


Counterbalance

by idkmybffkes



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Drunken Shenanigans, Flashbacks, Gen, Gymnast AU, Hazing, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Olympic Gold Medalist Larissa Duan, Underage Drinking, shitty reporters, sometimes they play hockey, you're gonna suffer...and you're gonna be happy about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-02-02 20:11:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12733482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idkmybffkes/pseuds/idkmybffkes
Summary: “Bro, did Lardo just press up into a kegstand?”“Bro.”Or, the story of how Larissa Duan, three-time Olympic medalist and eight-time world medalist, burnt out of gymnastics, went to college, became the manager of a gross team of hockey boys and fell in love with sports all over again.





	1. Samwell Class of 2016

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first ever fanfic! Well, I guess technically it's my second but my first one was a terrible Harry Potter fic that I abandoned because there was no saving it. Anyways @garden-of-succulents volunteered me to write a fic about Lardo as a gymnast (https://sharks-goalie-chris-chow.tumblr.com/post/166867865065/garden-of-succulents-sharks-goalie-chris-chow). This started off as some beam routines....and turned into this feelingsfest. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy the ride as I discover my voice as a writer and project all of my feelings on being a former gymnast and a first generation Asian American onto Lardo.
> 
> Shout out to Maddie and Kes for the beta read/cheerleading

Larissa was pretty sure she was going to die.

Honestly, she would rather go back and do 25 pressure sets in a row on beam than be sitting here in this room at the 2008 U.S. Women’s National Team Olympic Training and Selection Camp just waiting. Waiting was the literal worst thing in the world. 

“Stop freaking out,” Lisa Bragg, Larissa’s longtime coach and head of Bragg’s Academy of Dance and Gymnastics wandered over to her. At this point, Larissa was probably closer to Lisa than she was to her own parents. She certainly saw Lisa more.

“Oh, yeah, no reason to freak out, just waiting to hear if I’m going to compete in the biggest sporting event in the world.” Larissa muttered.

Lisa sighed and dropped next to her on the bench. “Look, that was easily the best camp you’ve had at the center by far. Following your top 5 finishes at both nationals and trials? There’s no reason you shouldn’t be in that discussion to make the team.”

But both Lisa and Larissa knew there were no guarantees - it was harder to make the US Olympic team than it was to medal at the Olympics. The U.S. had slowly transformed their gymnastics program into a juggernaut since 2005, winning medal after medal after medal. They were the shoo-in favorites for team gold, and had two of the best gymnasts in the world going head to head for the all around gold. 

Larissa knew she wasn’t going to get in on her all around skills because Rebecca and Amanda were absolutely incredible, but her beam and bars were both really good, like finals worthy, and her floor and vault kept her at least as a good backup in case of emergency. And with the USA being slightly weaker on bars, she had a tiny advantage over some other competitors to make the team.

Just then, the room went silent as Natalya Melnikovya walked into the room. The head of the U.S. national team, the former Russian had a commanding presence even without saying a word. 

“Okay girls,” she began, looking around the room at the assembled group. “We have had a very good and very competitive season, and this camp was one of the best I’ve seen. Everyone worked hard and I am proud of all of you for your progress and dedication. It was a very difficult task to pick the 6 who will be our team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. I am confident that the ones we have chosen will represent our country with much honor.” She unfolded the paper in her hand. “Of course, we know that as the top 2 finishers at the Olympic Trials, Rebecca Kimball and Amanda Sanderson have already guaranteed their spots. Please come stand with me” The two girls stood up and walked over next to Natalya as the rest of the girls applauded politely. 

Natalya waited for the clapping to die down before continuing. “I am pleased to announce that joining them will be Larissa Duan, Bella Flores, Elena Garanin, and Kayla Paulson. Our replacement athletes will be Charlotte Cohen, Jasmine Smith, and Madison White.”

Larissa covered her mouth as her eyes filled up with tears. _She was going to the Olympics._

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Larissa, we’re here!”

Larissa jolted out of her half dozing half reminiscing state as her mom’s voice broke through. Yawning, she sat up from where she was laying down across the back of her parents’ car and looked out the window at her surroundings. Sure enough, they were driving right by the giant red brick wall with its wrought iron lettering proclaiming _Samwell University Est. 1874 _.__

____

____

Larissa let out a deep sigh and her mom looked back at her, frowning. “Are you okay?”

Nodding, Larissa replied. “Yeah, yeah, I’m just, waking up, you know.” She let her eyes trail across campus, noting the multitudes of big red brick buildings and green grassy lawns as new students milled about, familiarizing themselves with campus. Giant banners flew from the buildings proclaiming WELCOME SAMWELL CLASS OF 2016!

Her dad drove the car over the bridge to the river and turned right. Her dorm was just up ahead on the left, in what was known as Samwell’s East Quad. As her dad pulled in, she spotted the check-in table. “Hey, Dad, you and mom can stretch for a second. I’ll go check in and get my keys.” 

Her dad grunted in acknowledgement. Leaving them behind she jogged over to the table, and quickly found the line for last names A-E. It wasn’t as busy as she was expecting, but it was later in the day and Larissa supposed that most students left for college with more enthusiasm than she did this morning. 

The blonde curly haired RA in charge of her line looked up as she came forward and visibly did a double take. “Oh! You’re Larissa Duan!”

 _Oh shit, she recognized her_. Larissa pasted on a smile. “Yep, that’s me.”

The RA shook her head. “I was so sad to hear that you got injured. I was really looking foward to watching you compete at the Olympics again. Anyways, I hope you’re feeling better! Welcome to Samwell University! And more specifically, welcome to Phillips Hall. I’m Cara and I’m going to be your RA.”

“It’s nice to meet you Cara. I’m excited to be here.” Lardo lied, trying to look as enthusiastic as possible. 

“Wonderful! Now, let me see…” Cara flipped through the packets in front of her and pulled out the one with Duan, Larissa typed on the front. “Well, here are your keys and your dorm keycard. Try to take good care of those; they’re hard to replace.”

“Sounds good,” Larissa shoved the envelope in her pocket and started to turn around.

“Wait!” Cara said. Larissa turned back around as she stood up out of her chair. “I wanted to let you know that our first dorm bonding activity is going to be watching the Olympics tonight! It’s not required but I bet it’ll be extra fun to have you there to provide commentary for us on how the gymnasts are doing!”

Larissa could feel her smile drop immediately. _Why would she even say that? Did she have any idea how hard this was already? I’m not supposed to be watching and giving commentary; I’m supposed to be there!_

Cara saw her face change and quickly backtracked. “Or, I mean, you don’t have to join us I just thought it’d be nice and….uhhhh well, your room is P262 and it’s on the second floor. Go up the east stairwell and it’s down the hall on the right. It’s a single so you don’t have to worry about roommates!” She sat back down. “Well, uh, if you need help carrying anything the move team is milling about in the Move It Well shirts!”

Larissa rolled her eyes and walked off. She made her way back to the car and brushing past her parents, opened the trunk and started grabbing bags.

A hand landed on her shoulder. Her dad asked her quietly. “Is everything alright?”

Sighing, Larissa nodded. “It’s fine; it’s just...it’s hard right now. I don’t know how I feel about this yet.”

“Give it time, _em bé_. You cannot expect to feel all of your feelings at once when there are so many that are relevant for your situation.”

“Okay, Dad.” Larissa turned around, her hands full. Looking up at the building, she sighed again, deeper this time. _Time to start the next journey. Samwell University, freshman year, here we go_.


	2. Boston's Golden Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> College can get a little Shitty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the nice feedback on Chapter 1! It's super encouraging to read, especially in a fandom like OMGCP where all of the writers are literally flawless. I hope you enjoy this next update!
> 
> As always, shout out to Maddie and Kes for their beta reading and cheerleading!

College was _hard_.

After years of homeschool and internet classes, adjusting to being in a room with other people learning the same stuff was a bit of a culture shock for Larissa. Shopping for classes was an eye-opening experience, as she realized that at least 50 other people were going to be in her classes for first year core courses. At the same time, it was thrilling. Outside of Cara, no one seemed to realize that she was Larissa Duan, multiple medal winning gymnast. She was just another anonymous college student among the masses here at Samwell. And she liked it that way.

Once she had picked her classes and settled into her schedule, Larissa realized that she was majorly missing out on exercise. Sure, she had PT every week, but she hadn’t done full on conditioning in so long. Not that she wanted to condition herself back into gymnast strength, but the last thing she needed was someone smirking at her ‘freshman 15.’ So she set her alarms for early Thursday morning and headed to the gym. It opened at 5 but other than the athletics teams, no one seemed to use it before 8. She had noticed that on her way into PT one day. 

Sure enough, when she walked into the gym at 6:30 that morning, there was one group of guys in Samwell Hockey shirts, and a couple of other random people who were working out. She scanned around the room, trying to decide what to do. Treadmill and elliptical were still out for about another 4 weeks, but she could definitely use some core and upper body work. Scanning around, she noticed a pull up bar in the middle part of a dauntingly large machine with all sorts of pulls and weights attached to it. _Perfect_. She headed that way, but as she got closer, she noticed a bit of a problem. The bar was literally 8 feet above the ground, and Lardo was 4’11”.

Larissa frowned up at the pull up bar. Why did they have to set it so high? She looked around for a mat to climb up on but all of them seemed to be in use by the hockey team. 

“Need a boost?” a voice came from behind her.

Larissa whipped around, but relaxed when she recognized the guy who had addressed her. He was in her Intro to Psychology class. “Hey, uh, Knight, right? Sorry I don’t remember your first name.”

“It’s Shitty.”

“What?” 

“You can call me Shitty. My first name is a real fucking cockstain.”

“...ok then. Yes a boost would be great.”

“Awesome.” Shitty walked in front of her and squatted down, linking his hands together for her to step into. Larissa used his shoulders to steady herself as she prepped.

“1, 2, 3..” she pushed herself off the floor and Shitty pushed her foot up so she could easily grab the bar. “Thanks man!” Adjusting her grip slightly, she started losing herself in the rhythm of pull ups. It wasn’t until she had finished doing 15 that she realized Shitty was still standing there. “Can I help you?” she asked, hanging off the bar.

Shitty laughed. “Oh, no, it was just...I realized now why you have an Olympic medal on the bars.”

Larissa frowned. “You know who I am?” _Dammit._

Shitty nodded. “Boston kid myself. Couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about Boston’s golden girl.”

Larissa swung herself up into a pullover over the bar so she could shake out her arms without dropping down. “Please don’t call me that.”

Shitty cocked his head as he looked up at her. “Why not?”

“Because I’m not the golden girl. Not anymore.”

“Look, just because you didn’t make it to the Olympics this year doesn’t mean you’re not golden anymore. You’ve already got all those medals. They can’t take that away from you.”

Larissa groaned. “Look, I’m here cause I don’t want to be the golden girl anymore. I’m just Larissa, a freshman at Samwell. The end.”

Shitty looked like he was about to argue but then clamped his mouth shut and nodded. “If that’s what you want, then I’ll respect that. I’ll let you get back to your workout.” He walked away before she could reply.

Shaking her head, Larissa dropped back down to do another set of pullups. As she worked out, she let her thoughts drift, and she found herself thinking about Shitty’s comment on the bars medal. That had been such a wonderful time.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 _Deep breaths. In and out_. Larissa stood in front of the bars, waiting for the green flag to go. She was last up in this final and had no delusions about her very small medal chances. There was no way she would beat Elena’s score of a 16.725 (which she didn’t care about - Elena had deserved a bars medal all quad and to have it finally come to fruition as Olympic gold was awesome!) and Mei Ling of China was pretty much out of the question too with a 16.65 marking her as the silver medalist. But Larissa had gotten a 16.375 during team finals, which was the same score that Daria Myzdrikova of Russia, who was currently in third place, had received. But Larissa had never scored that high internationally before the team final and she didn’t know if there was much she could do to score better than that. 

“You good, kiddo?” Lisa asked from the floor next to the podium, where she was standing as Lardo chalked up her grips.

Larissa nodded. “Yeah, I think I am.”

“Good. Now remember, don’t focus on trying to get that 16.400, ok? Focus on doing your best routine. Clean, tight form, pointed toes. Remember to really lift those hips up on that Jaeger, ok? You got this.”

“I got this,” Larissa mumbled, repeating the words to herself as if in a trance.

“Show them what a BADGirl is made of. Go get ‘em.” Lisa flashed her a thumbs up.

Larissa nodded, clapping her hands together and stepping up onto the mat in front of the bar. Ducking between the bars, she turned to salute the judges, who had raised the green flag. Turning back to face the lower bar, she took a deep breath and began.

Kip, cast to handstand ( _tall handstand, all the way through your toes_ ), stalder full ( _tighten your core tighten your core!_ ), toe on shap to the high bar ( _reach and...catch, good_ ), kip, cast to handstand, blind hop ( _watch your shoulders!_ ), front giant, forward stalder, healy, piked jaegar ( _lift, lift, LIFT, catch_ ), kip, cast to handstand, inbar full ( _really bring those legs in towards your face!_ ) tkatchev connected to pak ( _watch your distance watch your distance watch your distance!_ ), kip, cast to handstand, half turn, toe shoot, toe full ( _really hit this handstand, last one for the judges!_ ) giant, giant, full twisting double back ( _spot the ground!_ )

Larissa felt her feet smack the mat, and instinctively pulled everything up and tight, trying to make sure her feet didn’t move. She threw her arms out in front of her to steady herself, but she didn’t need it. She had stuck her landing. Throwing her arms back in a triumphant salute, she turned, saluted the judges, and basically catapulted herself off the podium into Lisa’s arms.

“You were amazing! Oh goodness, kiddo, that was so good!” Lisa hugged her so tightly that Larissa thought she might bruise a rib.

“RIS!” Elena came screaming into her ear and almost tackled her to the ground. “That was even better than your team final routine! Oh my god! SO good!” 

Larissa was barely able to breathe. “Oh my god. Literally...best...bar routine...of my life,” she panted out.

“You better get the bronze after that or I’m going to throw something at the judges!” Elena giggled. 

“We’ll have to see,” Lisa cut in smiling. “Let’s go get you some water and wait for your score.”

The group walked over to the chairs where their gear sat. Larissa picked up her water bottle and drained a solid half of it before putting it back down. She stood next to Elena and listened to her babble on as she pulled off her grips.

“...and your Jaeger was like textbook perfect. It was so pretty and high and you caught it at full extension.” 

Larissa laughed. “Thanks Elena.” She looked up at the scoreboard. “Ugh, I think I just want to see a good score since that routine was easily the best one I’ve done in Beijing.” 

Just as she said that, her score flashed up.

16.475

Elena started screaming and hugging her. “I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU’D GET THE BRONZE!”

Larissa was still in slight shock. She couldn’t believe it. The team gold was one thing but an individual Olympic medal? This was amazing.

Later on that night, after the medal ceremony, Larissa sat on her bed in the Olympic Village, staring down at the case with the glint of bronze in it.

She was an Olympic gold and bronze medalist. That sounded pretty good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on tumblr! I'm sharks-goalie-chris-chow if you want just OMGCP stuff and myfunnyindianvalentine for my main
> 
> ETA: GUYS! The incredible amazing @omgpieplease drew a lovely lovely picture of Lardo winning her bronze medal for me. Check it out here! https://omgpieplease.tumblr.com/post/168063941537/this-ones-a-commish-for-sharks-goalie-chris-chow


	3. How It Started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friendships are built, ideas are tossed around, and Larissa reflects on how she got into gymnastics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update! Woo! Happy early Thanksgiving y'all. 
> 
> This Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for Maddie and Kes for being my awesome beta and cheerleading team. Love y'all!

As her first semester continued on, Larissa was able to get herself settled into a decent routine of class, studying, PT, and working out. She made some casual friendships with the other girls who lived in her hall, and would study with them over frozen yogurt or coffee. She enjoyed spending time with them and was doing pretty well in all of her classes. But she still felt like something was missing.

“It’s frustrating,” she complained to Shitty over lunch one day. After running into each other at the gym multiple times, they started sitting together during Psych, and then going to the dining hall after class for a bite before she went to History of Art and he went to Econ. 

“What’s frustrating?” asked Shitty around a mouthful of french fries. 

“I’m enjoying everything about college right now, but something feels like it’s missing.”

“Something like what?” It actually came out as more like “somfing wike wuh” but Larissa had gotten used to Shitty talking around his food.

“I don’t know! That’s what’s frustrating.” Larissa stabbed her chicken with her fork probably more viciously than she should have.

“Are you homesick?” 

Lardo shook her head. “No, definitely not. Plus it’s not like Boston is far away.” 

“Do not fucking remind me how close my shitty-ass family is,” groaned Shitty. “So do you even have a ballpark idea of what it could be?”

“Not in the least.”

“Wait, is it maybe that you miss gymnastics?” Shitty tried to seem casual as he took a sip of his shake, but his eyes stared at her pretty intensely.

“No!” Lardo snapped immediately, before stopping to reconsider. “Yes….maybe? I don’t know.”

Shitty raised an eyebrow. “Maybe, you don’t know. You’re gonna have to be more specific than that, brah.”

“First of all, never call me brah again. Second of all, it’s not that I miss gymnastics? I think….it’s just… I miss having more of a structure. College is so loosey goosey. I don’t have set workout times or homework times. Classes are spread out all over the place. It’s weird. And I miss my teammates. We spent so much time together that it’s like, weird to be by myself in the gym.”

“You know you can always work out with me.” Shitty frowned.

Larissa rolled her eyes. “Half the time, you’re in there with the hockey team. You guys are all so busy joking around with each other that you don’t even work out.”

Shitty laughed. “Haha, yeah, they’re great. Well, most of them. Some of the seniors are like, major douchefucks.”

“That sucks,” Larissa said. Then she sighed wistfully. “But I miss that. The team camaraderie. Joking around and making fun of each other when we screw up. I know everyone talks about how gymnastics is an individual sport but there’s a lot of teamwork and supporting each other with it.”

Shitty’s eyes lit up. “Wait, that’s it!”

Larissa looked at him, confused. “What?”

“You need to join a sports team!” Shitty declared dramatically, pointing at her.

Lardo stared at him. Of all the things she thought he would say, that was absolutely not one of the phrases that passed through her mind. “Uh, Shitty, I hate to break it to you, but the only sport I’ve ever done is gymnastics. And even if Samwell had a gymnastics team, which they don’t, I’m ineligible to compete in the NCAA.”

“I mean, I was talking about club sports but, really? You didn’t do other sports when you were younger?” Shitty 

Lardo let out a half-laugh. “Nope, I mean, I didn’t really care about sports as a kid until I got into gymnastics. And then I didn’t have time for anything else.”

“Really? Weird.” Shitty took another slurp of his shake. “So how did you get into gymnastics anyways?”

“Oh. Ha. Uh, fun story.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

5 year old Lardo bounced in her seat on the way to Maddie’s birthday party. She had never been to a gymnastics birthday party before! “Mommy, do you think they’ll let me flip like Karyne taught me?”

Her mom laughed. “You’ll need to be careful, Larissa. You can do those on the trampoline, but I don’t want you doing them on the ground without someone there to catch you. You know you almost broke your nose trying to land them on the grass by yourself.”

“Aw, Mommy, that was one time!”

Larissa’s mom pulled up in front of the gym, where Maddie’s mom was waiting to bring her in. “Just behave nicely, okay? Have a good time. Love you.”

“Love you too!” Larissa clambered out of the car and walked in with Maddie’s mom.

The party was so much fun. They got to roll down angled mats, swing on the bars, and run down the vault runway and jump onto a pile of mats. Every single thing they did, Larissa had more and more fun.

“This is so awesome!” Larissa whispered to Maddie. “I want to be a gymnast now.”

One of Maddie’s slightly older boy cousins (Carl, Larissa thought she remembered) overheard her and started laughing. “You couldn’t be a gymnast. You’re too fat. You wouldn’t be able to get your legs off the ground.”

“I can land a backflip on a trampoline!” Larissa defended

“Anybody can do that! It’s a trampoline. It’s bouncy. Bet you can’t do a backflip on the floor.” Carl smirked right back at her.

“Oh yeah?” Larissa got right up in the bully’s face. “I’ll show you.” Stepping back, she made sure the floor was clear behind her. Raising her arms over her head, she remembered Karyne’s instructions. _Set up your body, make sure you feel ready. Ok, now bend your knees, sit like your going into a chair, and then push through all of your legs_. Surprisingly, the floor was bouncier than she expected and she was able to get enough height to complete the flip and actually managed to land it, staggering forward slightly but on her feet. “Take that!”

Carl gaped at her in shock. Without anything to say, he turned and stormed away. Larissa laughed and turned back to Maddie.

“See? I could totally be a gymnast!”

“Yes, you could,” came a voice from behind her. Larissa whipped around to find an older lady smiling down at her. “My name’s Lisa. I’m the head coach here at Bragg’s. That was a very impressive back tuck. What’s your name?”

Larissa ducked her head down shyly. “I’m Larissa.”

Lisa crouched down to her level. “Where’d you learn to do a back flip, Larissa?”

“My cousin Karyne taught me. She’s a cheerleader.”

“You learned it very well. Can I give you a few tips to make it even better?”

Larissa looked up at her. “Yeah!”

Lisa laughed. “Alright.” She proceeded to coach Larissa on the side of the party, while Maddie watched in awe. By the end of their mini session, Larissa was able to land the backflip with her chest completely straight up and not taking too many steps.

As the party started to wrap up, Lisa looked back at Larissa. “You did really well today. Do you want to join my gym?”

Larissa looked up at her wide-eyed. “You really think I can?”

Lisa laughed again, nodding. “Absolutely. You’ve got a lot of talent. Who’s picking you up from the party today?”

“My mom!”

“Perfect. Let’s go talk to her.”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Wait, wait, wait,” Shitty broke in laughing. “You’re telling me you became a gymnast to spite a bully. That’s fucking incredible.”

Larissa laughed. “Yeah.” She looked down. “It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about that.”

Shitty cleared his throat. “Well, back to the matter at hand, which is you doing something structured and being a part of a team. I had another idea while you were telling your story.”

Larissa looked back up at him. “What?”

“How do you feel about managing a sports team? Specifically, the hockey team. We don’t have a manager right now, and our captain Jack is having to split his time between actual captain duties and taking over manager stuff. And some of the shitty ass upperclassmen are making it super fucking awful for him.”

_Wait, what?_. “Uh….dude, I’ve never managed a sports team.”

“No, but like, you have to be super organized and efficient and able to multitask. You’re good at that, right? I mean, you balanced training, school, and sponsorships and interviews for a while.”

“I had an agent to help with that.”

“But you still did it!” Shitty looked at his watch. “Oh, fuck, I just remembered. I told a kid in Econ I’d let him borrow my notes from last class to copy before class today. I gotta run. Hey,” he stood up and reached over to Larissa’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Just think about it, okay? You don’t have to make a decision right away. We managed to get through the beginning of the year, and our season doesn’t start for about another month, so you’ve got a bit.” He let go of her shoulder and walked off with his tray. 

Larissa shook her head. _What a weird idea_. As she pulled out her History of Art book to go over the reading for today, she was startled by a sudden banging on the window next to her. She whipped her head over to see Shitty, fist raised, without a care to the stares around him.

“We have open practice Friday morning at 8!” he yelled through the glass. “You should come watch and see if you like hockey! Okay I really have to go bye!” And he sprinted away.

Larissa shrunk down behind her book, trying to avoid everyone from both outside and inside looking over at her now. Luckily, no one seemed to care after that, and the hubbub of conversation picked back up around her.

As Larissa kept reading, her thoughts kept coming back to the idea of managing. Somehow, Shitty's earnest encouragement has seeded itself in her head, and there was a voice was saying that this was not a bad idea. But surely this was not the solution….was it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me editing this fic: NO HER NAME ISN'T LARDO YET STOP CALLING HER THAT
> 
> as always, I'm sharks-goalie-chris-chow or myfunnyindianvalentine on Tumblr.


	4. Daddy Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By Thursday night, she wasn’t any closer to a decision than she was when she started debating it to herself. So, she did what any 20 year old adult would do when faced with such a predicament.
> 
> She called her dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving break! And now, here I am to ruin your life. Honestly this chapter was nowhere in my original outline but it just kind of showed up and well, here we are. 
> 
> Warnings: Angst, what may be considered shitty parenting, first generation Asian child guilt, loss of job.
> 
> please let me know if I need to add anything to my original tags and stuff.
> 
> As always, Maddie, Kes, best beta/cheerlead team this side of the Mississippi

Larissa kept on thinking about Shitty’s offer over the next couple of days. As much as she tried to talk herself out of it, the feeling kept coming back that she should give it a chance. By Thursday night, she wasn’t any closer to a decision than she was when she started debating it to herself. So, she did what any 20 year old adult would do when faced with such a predicament.

She called her dad.

He picked up the phone on the second ring. “Larissa? I wasn’t expecting a call from you. Are you ok?”

Larissa flopped back into her chair. “I’m fine, don’t worry dad. Just in need of some fatherly advice.”

Her dad laughed. “Well you came to the right spot. Come, tell your dear old dad everything.”

Larissa smiled softly. Her dad never failed to brighten up her day. She quickly summarized her feelings of missing something, Shitty’s idea of managing the hockey team, and the fact that she had continued thinking about it.

When she had finished, her dad stayed silent for a few moments before asking. “What is it about the hockey team that appeals to you?”

Larissa groaned. “I don’t know. It’s just, like, every time I see them at the gym hanging out, they look like they’re having such a good time around each other and that’s what I’m looking for. Company that I can really hang out with.”

Her dad chuckled lightly. “And this of course has nothing to do with this Shitty guy that you keep bringing up.” Larissa could practically feel the eyebrow wiggle on the other end of the phone.

“Dad, _no_ ,” she groaned. “It’s not like that. I just really miss hanging out with a small group of people with the same goal.”

“You could do that with any of your classmates, join a club, do whatever. Why manage a hockey team?”

“Well, it’s a way for me to stay around sports without having to actively participate.”

“You said when you quit gymnastics that you were done with sports,” her dad said.

“I was done with gymnastics. This is about as far away from gymnastics as it gets.”

“And you’re sure that this is the right choice?”

“I’m not sure of anything - that’s why I called you! What do you think?” asked Larissa.

“Well, you’ve given me a lot of reasons why you want to do it. Why should you not do it?”

Larissa thought about it. Finally, she replied. “It just doesn’t make sense. I know nothing about hockey and I’m only sort of friends with one member. There’s no logic to me becoming the manager.”

“Yes, but sometimes feelings are beyond logic. You are allowed to want something for the sake of wanting it, not just because it makes sense or is logical.” Her dad’s voice softened. “Can I tell you what I think is happening? I think, for the first time in a long time, you are getting to engage with sports on your own terms. Not because of circumstances or what you feel others want or need. The choice is 100% yours and that’s appealing to you.”

“Gymnastics was my own terms,” Larissa protested.

“Not by the end, it wasn’t,” her dad replied sadly. Larissa could hear the regret tinging his words.

Larissa let out a shaky sigh. “You know I don’t regret the choice to go pro, right dad? It was what needed to happen and it was just poor luck that it didn’t work out.”

“I’m your father. I should have figured something else out.” She could almost feel her dad’s dismay from the other end.

“Dad...let’s not get into this again?” she begged him.

There were a couple more moments of silence before he agreed. “Okay. But only if you promise to go to the practice tomorrow and let yourself enjoy living again.”

“I will, Dad, I promise. I better go. I love you.”

“Love you too, _em bé_. Take care of yourself. Goodnight.”

“Good night Dad.” Larissa hung up the phone with a deep sigh. She never liked rehashing the going pro argument. It had been awful enough the first time.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Larissa opened the door from the garage into the house. “Hello? Mom? Dad?”

Her mom poked her head out from the kitchen. “Ah, Larissa, you’re home. How was practice?”

“Mmm, it was okay. Hey when does Dad come home? I wanted to talk to you guys about something.”

“I’m in here!” her dad’s voice rang out from behind her mom.

“Oh, you’re home early! Perfect.” Larissa walked into the kitchen and flopped down onto a chair at the counter. “So I think I’m going to drop back down to Level 10.”

Silence greeted her words.Larissa looked up at her parents, who looked completely flabbergasted. Her dad was the first one to recover. “If that’s what you want to do, of course we support you, but you’re doing so well with elite. Why drop?”

“I’m just tired of it, really. Elite’s just so much, and I’ve already gotten basically everything I want out of my career.”

“But Larissa,” her mom broke in. “A second Olympics. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“I mean, I guess so. I don’t know if I want it anymore though.”

“How long have you been thinking about this?” her dad asked.

“I dunno. I’ve been feeling off on gymnastics for a few weeks, but this thought really only popped up a few days ago.”

“Well,” her dad put his hand over her own, “it may be that you’re just tired and a little burned out right now. Let’s take some more time and think about it, yeah? What did Lisa say?”

“I haven’t told her.” Larissa admitted.

“Talk to her about it too, okay? Now let’s have dinner together. It’s been a while since we’ve done that, with everyone’s busy schedules.” Her mom walked back to the stove and started stirring the pot.

Later that night, Larissa walked back down the hall to get a glass of water before bed. She stopped as she overheard her parents discussing something pretty heatedly.

“If she’s burned out on gymnastics, then let’s just have her quit altogether. It’ll save the financial strain.” her mom said.

Her dad sighed heavily. “She loves gymnastics and I know she does. That’s why she’s saying Level 10 instead of quitting. I’m not forcing her out of that because I’ve lost my job.”

Larissa covered her mouth to muffle the gasp. _Her dad had lost his job? Oh no_.

“Well, how are we going to keep paying for her training?” her mom snapped

“The national team stipend…”

“It doesn’t cover barely anything and you know that.”

“But we can cover it out of savings.”

“Those savings are for an emergency, not a sport that she isn’t committed to!”

“Isn’t committed to?” her dad raised his voice, which was rare. “Linh, do you hear yourself? She’s been elite for 4 years, has multiple Olympic and World medals. She’s got a full ride to Utah because of how committed she is. Hell, if this was any other sport, she’d have signed a multi-million dollar contract by now with all the success she’s had!”

“Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but someone has to be practical about this. We can’t just keep her in gymnastics when she’s questioning it and you don’t have a job.”

They both fell silent. Larissa wondered if she should speak up or go back to her room. Then her mom snapped her fingers. “That’s it.”

“What’s it?” her dad asked.

“Multi-million dollar contracts. She’s got people who want her to sign them.”

“Oh no. Oh no no no. Linh, she wants to compete in college. She can’t do that if she gets sponsorships, you know that!”

“Well, do you have a better idea? I don’t like it either but if we want her to be able to train, and us to not go bankrupt, that’s our best choice!”

“She doesn’t even want to compete elite anymore! If she goes pro, she has to!”

Larissa had heard enough and stepped into the kitchen. “If pro is what it takes, then pro is what I’ll do.”

Her parents whipped around. “Larissa, you’re still awake?” her mom asked, trying to mask her voice with false cheer.

Larissa shook her head. “Don’t pull that on me mom. Yes, I’m awake. And yes, I heard all that. How long were you two planning on hiding the fact that Dad lost his job?”

Both her parents’ faces fell. “We weren’t actively trying to hide it from you, _em bé_. We were going to mention it at dinner but you threw us for a loop with the Level 10 discussion.” her dad protested.

Larissa waved her hand. “Well, that discussion is out the window now. Anyways, Dad, Mom’s right. I’m easily the most recognizable member of USA Gymnastics right now, especially after the three golds at worlds. With the 2012 Olympics next year, I’m in a great position to sign some big sponsorship deals.”

“Larissa, that’s not your responsibility…” her dad started.

“No!” Larissa cried out. “You and mom have done so much for me and supported my gymnastics career and let me do so much. Now I can help out and pay back just a little bit. Please let me do this for you.”

Her mom and dad looked at each other and had a silent conversation. Finally they turned back to her and nodded. “Let’s talk about it in the morning after we’ve all had some rest and time to process our emotions.” Her dad held up a hand when she started to protest. “We’re not saying no to this, okay? We just need to consider all plans before moving forward.”

\-----------------------------------------------

Larissa wiped her eyes. She hadn’t even realized that she was crying until that moment. Like she told her father, she never regretted convincing her parents to let her go pro because her sponsorships before the injury were enough to keep her family afloat until her dad got a new job, pay for training, and put away money into a college savings account (which her dad had insisted on). But the reality was that she had to force herself to keep training in a sport she didn’t love anymore and wasn’t even able to maximize her potential earnings with a second Olympic berth. And that sucked.

_Fuck gymnastics for what it did to me and my family_.

Letting out another deep sigh, Larissa got ready for bed. No point in mulling over that now. She had promised her dad she was going to try the hockey manager thing, so she best be prepared for that. She went to sleep, wondering what practice would be like tomorrow morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I know Lardo's mom comes across hella harsh here. Like, hella. But she is very very much modeled on my own mother who is practicalities above all else. (It balances my dad who is all emotions and dreams quite well). People joke about Asian and Indian moms being "Tiger Moms" or whatever, but I find that a lot of that comes from their own experiences as an immigrant in this country and they think they need to push their children into reasonable and practical directions for them to succeed. They sacrificed their dreams to have successful careers and be good homemakers so why shouldn't their children do the same? It's just a very different mindset. So please...give Linh some grace. She's just trying to do what's best for her family.


	5. Meet The Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Larissa's first meeting with the team is more exciting than anticipated!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday! After the angstfest that was Chapter 4, I figured we all needed some happiness, so have 2000 words of pure shenanigans. Honestly, why do I even bother looking at my outline anymore? These characters just do what they want with this story.

7:30 am. Friday morning. Lardo stared up at the building in front of her. This was it. This was Faber. Home of the Samwell Wellies Men’s Hockey Team.

 

_ What the hell was she doing here? _

 

Just then she heard a shout from behind her. “Larissa? Is that you?” She turned around to see Shitty barrelling down the sidewalk towards her. “Fuck YES, you decided to become our manager!”

 

“Cool your jets, Knight,” Larissa grumbled in response. “I’m only here because I have temporarily lost my sanity and have somehow been convinced by the people around me that this isn’t a half bad idea.”

 

“Ah, come on,” Shitty slung an arm around her shoulders. “I think it’s a great idea. Let me introduce you to the coaches! And Jack, our captain…” he trailed off here and looked over his shoulder. “Jack! You beautiful French Canadian beaut! Get your fine as fuck ass over here!”

 

A dark haired guy, who looked vaguely familiar, ambled up, leading a group of guys all dressed in various athletic gear. “Go ahead, team - Shitty and I will join you in a bit.” He motioned to the rest of the group and they all nodded and walked ahead. He walked over to Larissa and Shitty and looked down at her.  _ Holy shit, he’s tall _ Larissa thought, trying not to shrink back under his scrutinizing gaze.

 

Something must have registered as okay with him though, because he gave a brief nod before sticking out his hand to shake. “Jack Zimmermann. You must be Larissa. Shitty mentioned that you may be interested in becoming our manager.”

 

Larissa took his hand. He had a firm grasp, but nothing too strong. “Larissa Duan. I’m not sure about becoming manager yet, but Shitty here” at this point, she side eyed Shitty, who looked down at his feet bashfully, “told me that you guys needed someone to possibly help out and I figured I might as well try it.”

 

Jack hummed his assent. “Do you know much about hockey?”

 

Larissa smiled. “I did a bit of research so I’ve got some general idea. Two teams, 5 players on the ice at a time, put puck in net. I’m guessing part of my job would be making sure that all the players had all eleventy million pieces of their uniform straight.”

 

Shitty laughed at that. “See? I knew you would be a great fit! She did research to make sure she was ready!”

 

Jack also smiled, a small but genuine lift to his lips. “That is good to see.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Let’s go introduce you to Coach Hall and Coach Murray. They can tell you more about the position.”

~~~~

Some time later, Larissa was leaning on the boards from the bench area. Coaches Hall and Murray seemed pleased to be introduced to her. Coach Hall had taken her around the back to show her what she’d be doing and where she’d be working before leading her out to watch the rest of practice. He had then skated off to join Coach Murray and the team on the ice.

 

Shitty skated over to grab a drink of water. “So, what do you think?” he asked before upending half his bottle into his mouth.

 

Larissa shrugged. “It’s a lot different than gymnastics practice, that’s for sure. Though I guess you guys don’t have individual skills to break down as much.” She nodded over to where Jack was smoothly skating circles around orange cones with the puck in front of him. “He’s pretty good, isn’t he?” 

 

“Jack? Oh yeah. Fucking incredible man. Definitely is going to compete in the NHL after this.” Shitty watched as Jack slid to a graceful stop in front of another skater. “Of course, some shitholes want to act like he’s only captain because of his dad, but what do they know?”

 

Larissa cocked her head curiously. “Who’s his dad?”

 

Shitty looked at her, startled. “Oh wow, you  _ really _ don’t know anything about hockey, do you?”

 

“Uh....gymnastics? Homeschooled? Exactly when was I going to become a hockey fan?”

 

“Right. Well, Jack’s dad is Bad Bob Zimmermann. He’s a NHL legend. So douchecanoes want to say that he pulled strings to get Jack captaincy.” 

 

As if on cue, the player in front of Jack (#6, McWilliams according to his jersey) shoved Jack forcefully. Jack shoved him back and soon the two of them were up in each other’s faces yelling. Then McWilliams threw a punch at Jack and the two of them broke out into a full on fight. The coaches unsuccessfully were trying to pull them away from each other while the rest of the team hung back, unsure. Shitty skated over to try to break them up but was shoved away unceremoniously by Jack.

 

Finally Larissa clambered up to stand on the boards and stuck her fingers in her mouth, letting out a shrill whistle. “Hey! Assholes! Maybe try not punching your own teammates!”

 

Everyone, including Jack and McWilliams, froze in shock. The coaches shook it off quickly and used that opportunity to get between the two that were fighting and separate them. 

 

Larissa looked at McWilliams. “I don’t know what he said to you but there is absolutely no reason for you to shove or punch your own teammate let alone your captain. And  _ you! _ ” She turned to Jack. “You are the captain! What kind of damn example are you setting for the rest of the team right now, letting him goad you into a fight like that?”

 

After a few beats of silence that followed, Shitty and a couple of other players started cackling.

 

“Bro, how did a sound like that come out of such a tiny body?” snickered #4, a blonde guy who easily had a foot and a half on Larissa

 

“I don’t know but did you see Mack’s face?” #11 laughed in response. McWilliams straightened up as if he was going to say something but Coach Murray caught him and pointed him towards the locker room. Sneering in disgust, McWilliams stormed off to hoots and hollers from the majority of the rest of the team. 

 

Coach Hall and Coach Murray frowned, looked at Jack and beckoned him to follow as they went after McWilliams. Jack looked back at the rest of the team as he skated off. “Please actually attempt to get some practice in.” He looked at Larissa and nodded at her. “I’m counting on you to help keep them in line.”

 

As Jack walked off, the rest of the team stared at Larissa. She crossed her arms and frowned back at them. “Well? I didn’t hear them say stop whatever drills you were working on. Chop chop!” She clapped her hands together, and to her surprise, they all obeyed and went back to work. Well, all of them except for the three that had been laughing.

 

“Fucking incredible, man!” Shitty skated back over to Larissa. “Please say you’re going to actually be our manager now. We need you to do it. No one else can manage these guys like that. Did you know you’re fucking scary when you get like that?”

 

#11 skated over. “Dude.  _ Dude _ . All of that? Was like, some mad incredible skills.” He held out a hand for her. “Need a hand down?”

 

Larissa laughed. “This is wider than a balance beam.” She gracefully hopped down to sit on the edge and stuck her hand into his outstretched one to shake. “Larissa Duan. I guess I’m your new manager.”

 

#11 grinned at her. “Justin Oluransi. I go by Ransom around here though. And you used to be a gymnast! ‘Swawesome.”

 

#4 skated up behind Shitty and Ransom. “And I’m Holster. Where did you learn to whistle like that?”

 

“Yeah, surely you didn’t pick that up from flipping on a vault or whatever,” Shitty added.

 

“Okay first of all, vault sucks. Second of all, you’d be surprised at how often it got used for gymnastics. Third of all, why do none of you have normal nicknames?”

 

Ransom, Holster, and Shitty launched into an intense explanation of the rules behind nicknames in hockey. Somewhere after the second or third minute of it, Larissa found herself losing focus on them as she thought about the last time she had gotten that kind of response to her whistle.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

This was officially a mess, Larissa decided.

 

The 2011 World Championships seemed to be cursed for Team USA. Elena had torn her shoulder at the training camps, meaning that she wouldn’t be sent. Two days ago, in podium training, every single team member had fallen at least twice - including Larissa who fell twice off the bars.  _ The bars! That was like, her event! _ And today, right before they were scheduled to go out, Samira O’Neal, who was an amazing junior elite making her senior debut this year, overrotated her triple in the warm-up gym, landing flat on her back and hitting her head. She was escorted off the floor, and then diagnosed with a concussion, leaving them one short for qualifications. That meant all 5 of them had to go up on all four events, and the other 4 gymnasts had never competed at an international elite level before. 

 

As they waited in the warm up gym for their coaches to get them ready for march out, Larissa surveyed the rest of the team, spread out all over the floor. Everyone was shaken, seeing Samira go down. Chelsea was crying in one corner. Erica had her arm around Jasmine, who looked like she was going to vomit along the side. Luriel was in the far corner fidgeting like crazy, stretching her neck from side to side and bouncing up and down on her toes.

 

_ Deep breaths, Larissa. You can do this. You’re the captain - you need to fix this. _ Putting her fingers in her mouth, she whistled sharply to get everyone’s attention. “Team!” Everyone stopped what they were doing to look over at her. “Let’s huddle up.”

 

Everyone jogged over to her quickly. As Larissa put her arms around Luriel and Chelsea to form the circle, she closed her eyes, hoping the right words would come to her.

 

“All right everyone. I know that was scary to watch. But Samira is going to be okay. And we’re going to be okay. And we’re going to go out and win this for her. All right? This is what we’ve worked for. This is what we’ve trained for. This is why we all are on this team. So we can go out there and prove, once again, that Team USA can’t be beat.” 

 

Larissa opened her eyes to look around her. All of the girls were looking back at her, determination and fire replacing any uncertainty in their eyes. “We’re going to do this as a team. We’ve all got each others back. Right?”

 

“Right!” the other 4 chorused.

 

Lardo smiled. “Awesome. Hands in, guys. USA on three. One, two, three…”

 

“USA!” they all cheered in unison.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Larissa.  _ Larissa! _ ”

 

Larissa snapped back to Shitty waving a hand in front of her eyes. “Sorry, must have spaced out for a second. What were you saying?”

 

The three guys laughed. “We were trying to come up with a nickname for you. Did you have one during gymnastics?”

 

Larissa shrugged. “I mean, sometimes the girls called me Ris.” 

 

Shitty wrinkled his nose in disgust. “No, no, we need something magnificent. Something unique.”

 

“How about Loud as Fuck?  _ Tabarnak, _ that whistle hurt my ears.” a voice came from behind the group. Larissa looked up as Ransom, Holster, and Shitty turned around to see Jack standing there. “Sorry about that fight, by the way. You were right. I definitely need to set a better example.”

 

Larissa shrugged. “Hey, as long as you get there eventually, yeah? Also my nickname is definitely not going to be Loud.”

 

Shitty stroked his mustache. “You may be onto something here though, Jack...Larissa Loud Duan...Larissa Loud….Lard...Lardo!” He snapped his fingers. “That’s it! Lardo!”

 

Ransom and Holster started protesting immediately (with overlapping yells “No, dude!”“That’s fucking terrible…”) but Larissa held up a hand to stop them. “You know what? I like it.” She looked out at the ice, eyes scanning over her new team. “Lardo.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....and she's officially Lardo! Thank goodness.
> 
> I should have chapter 6 for y'all fairly soon - it's mostly written but I also just got promoted so I'll have a lot less time to write at work, haha.


	6. Something In Common

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Us athletic wonderkids have to stick together, eh?"
> 
> Jack and Lardo bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYYYYSSSSSSS. You're all so nice! Thank you for all the comments and kudos and sweet words about this fic. I'm glad you all love gymnast!Lardo as much as I do.
> 
> Today's update brought to you by copious amounts of spiced hot chocolate from a local coffeeshop that I'm obsessed with.
> 
> Shoutout to Maddie who is the #bestbetabestie

It was freeing, being someone other than Larissa. Larissa was the golden girl. Larissa was the face of USA Gymnastics. Larissa was the outgoing, bubbly captain and elder statesman of the USA team, who kept everyone laughing and upbeat, team mom and older sister wrapped up in one. Larissa was the one giving positive speeches to the media about how excellent Team USA was and how happy she was to represent her country. Larissa was the one who smiled and flipped around on TV while selling household cleaners to middle-aged housewives. 

 

To some extent, she now hated being Larissa.

 

\---------------

“Larissa,  _ smile _ .”

 

Larissa groaned. It had been a long couple of hours shooting this commercial already, doing take after take, and she just wanted to go back to her hotel room, curl up under the covers, and watch Disney movies. But instead, she was stuck here, doing cartwheels around a fake living room where she would purposefully knock over a plant and pretend to vacuum it up. 

 

The director smiled at her, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s do another take, shall we?”

 

Larissa nodded and walked back to her starting spot. 

 

“And….action!” came the call.

 

Larissa stretched her arms over her head, prepping for the cartwheel. But instead of doing the fake cartwheel where she knocked off the plant, she did a perfect cartwheel, stood up, and then kicked the plant off the table.

 

“CUT!” came the agitated scream. The director stormed onto the set. “What the fuck was that?”

 

Larissa shrugged noncommittally.

 

The director got up in her face. “Listen, you bratty, childish, ridiculous...”

 

“Chris, that’s enough.”  Larissa’s agent Chari Sims pushed her way between the two of them. Larissa’s parents hadn’t been able to make the trip up to New York to film, so Chari had volunteered to be on set with her so she wasn’t alone. 

 

Chris groaned. “She’s acting like a petulant child!”

 

Chari nodded. “I know. Let me talk to her.” She turned to Larissa. “Dressing room. Let’s go.” She put her arm around Larissa’s shoulder and steered her forcefully down the hall into her room, where she pushed her in none too gently, and then shut the door behind her. Turning to Larissa, Chari crossed her arms and glared. “Is something wrong?”

 

Larissa glared back. “Yes. This commercial is stupid. Why would I be doing cartwheels in my living room, right by the coffee table? No normal person does that. Not even normal gymnasts do that. Especially not where there is glass and knick knacks and breakable things. And why would I freaking smile like an idiot if I did knock something over?”

 

“It’s a commercial, Larissa. It doesn’t have to mimic real life. You exaggerate to sell the product.”   
  


“Fuck selling products. I don’t want to look like an idiot out there!”

 

Chari tsked at her. “Now, that’s not conduct very becoming to America’s sweetheart, is it?”

 

“I’m not America’s sweetheart,” grumbled Larissa. “I’m a gymnast. Who should be at the gym, working out right now.”

 

Chari smiled iciliy. “Well, USA Gymnastics has decided you’re America’s sweetheart and must be portrayed as such. So if I were you, I’d tone down the attitude. Wouldn’t want those sponsorships to dry up because you had a reputation for being difficult, now, would you?” She raised an eyebrow, and suddenly Larissa had a flashback to when she signed with Chari, begging her to find as many sponsorships as she could to keep her family afloat.

 

_ She’s right _ , Larissa thought to herself.  _ I can’t afford to lose any sponsorships. _ She took a deep breath and pasted on a fake smile. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just tired right now...

I think I just needed a quick break, but I'm ready to try again."

 

Chari clapped her on the shoulder. “There’s my sweetheart. Come on, let’s go get this commercial filmed.” She walked out of the room, and Larissa followed, making sure her media smile was in place and the rebellious thoughts were locked in the back of her mind.

\-----------------------

 

Lardo was a different person. Lardo was allowed to have more shades than just peppy and upbeat. Lardo was allowed to be quiet and broody, or angry and yelling, or frustrated and snappy. The hockey team didn’t care how she acted or presented herself, as long as all her work was done and she had everything organized and ready to go. It didn’t matter to them if she held the clipboard with the plays on them with a smile on her face. It didn’t matter to them if she remained positive while collecting sweaty uniforms. She was allowed to be honest. Which was good, because Thomas McWilliams honestly made her want to punch him in the face.

 

“He’s awful,” she complained to Jack. They were meeting at Annie’s over coffee to go over how to pair the guys up on roadies and apparently, no one wanted to room with Mack. “So consider me literally not surprised whatsoever that the rest of the team avoids him.”

 

Jack smiled a bit at that. “What did he say that made you hate him so much?”

 

“Well, he disrespects you all the freaking time. Like, you’ll be saying something and he’ll just be rolling his eyes in the background.” 

 

“At least he wasn’t pretending to snort cocaine behind me,” said Jack, shaking his head.

 

“Why would he do that?” Lardo asked, confused.

 

Jack looked startled at that. “Oh. Euh. Well. I guess you don’t know the story, huh?”

 

“I didn’t really have a lot of time to follow stories of people. I was a bit busy trying to keep the nosy fucking journalists out of my own.”

 

Jack looked at her with a furrowed brow. “Wait, journalists? Why did you have journalists bothering you?”

 

“Oh!” Now it was Lardo’s turn to be startled. She assumed Shitty had mentioned who she was to Jack but it didn’t seem to be the case. “Uh, I won three medals at the Olympics. In gymnastics.”

 

“Really?” Jack’s eyes lit up. “That’s incredible. Wow. So how did you end up at Samwell?”

 

Lardo grimaced. “Broke myself training for the 2012 Olympics. Figured I’d go to college instead of just sitting around being unable to compete. It’s something to do, at least.”

 

“Oh.” Jack visibly deflated. “Well, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want. But, euh, I know a bit about being somewhere you don’t feel like you’re supposed to be.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Lardo asked curiously.

 

“Uh, I was supposed to be in the NHL by now. My dad...he’s really good at hockey”

 

“I think I remember Shitty mentioning something about that.”

 

“Yeah...well… everyone expected me to be just like him. And well….I have anxiety….so that was hard.” 

 

“Living up to expectations. Yup, I know that feeling.”

 

“Yeah...so….I was taking a lot of anxiety meds. And drinking. And just being dumb. And I accidentally…” here Jack gulped. He looked like he was about to start crying, so Lardo grabbed his hand.

 

“Hey. Look at me. Look here. You’re safe. It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it.”

 

Jack shook his head. “I’m okay.” He looked back up at Lardo. “Normally I don’t just talk about this stuff.”

 

Lardo shrugged. “I’m a pretty good listener.”

 

“Yeah, but even then, you’re really easy to talk to.”

 

“Well, good. You can talk to me whenever.”

 

Jack smiled a little. “Sounds good.” He took another deep breath. “I overdosed on my anxiety meds and got sent to rehab instead of playing in the NHL.”

 

Lardo’s heart broke. Jack’s eyes in that moment looked so sad. “Jack…” she started, squeezing his hand. 

 

Jack shook his head. “No, no, don’t feel bad. Honestly, I probably needed the break from hockey. Rehab let me take some time away from hockey, which was so wrapped up in my anxiety. I needed to figure out how to separate the two. I went back to coach hockey after rehab and remembered why I loved it. And coming and playing in college was a good lower pressure way to get back into it.”

 

_ Oh. _ Lardo sighed deeply. “It must have been nice.” 

 

Jack looked over at her. “Sounds like you’ve got a bit of a story with gymnastics too.”

 

Lardo looked at him. He seemed like he would get it...after all, he did share a pretty personal story himself. So she spilled out the whole story. Winning three medals in 2008. The unexpected world golds that she kept racking up from 2009-2011. Burning out and wanting to quit. Having to go pro for the family finances. The pressure of being the It Girl for USA Gymnastics. And the devastation of the injury.

 

“The weird thing is,” she concluded, “that I’m not devastated about not doing gymnastics again. Honestly, I’m a bit relieved. But it feels like I went pro for nothing, and that sucks.”

 

“That...does suck.” Jack said. “I wish there was something I could say to make it suck less. But I’m always here to listen. You’re part of this team now, yeah? I’ve got your back. Us athletic wonderkids have to stick together, eh?” he winked after this, making Lardo giggle slightly.

 

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she agreed. “Now, how do we decide who’s getting tortured with Tommy boy as a roommate?”

 

“Well first of all, don’t ever call him Tommy. He hates it.”

 

“Seriously?” Lardo asked?  _ Of all the ridiculous pompous bullshit... _

 

“Seriously. Tommy is what Shitty calls him when he’s being extra douchey. Ransom and Holster apparently measure how douchey he’s being based on how many Tommy’s have been said.”

 

“That’s….amazing.” Lardo made a mental note to actually write down the Tommy scale at some point.

 

“Yeah, it is pretty funny. Anyways, so at first, I was considering rotating Mack duty so that no one would have to get stuck with him more than once. But then Johnson? He’s our goalie. He told me to put him with Mack. Something about ‘having the best temperament to deal with an unlikable original character.’”

 

“...what?”

 

Jack shrugged. “Johnson is weird. You get used to it.”

 

“....okay then. What about the rest then?”

 

As Lardo and Jack sat and finished up all the rooming assignments, she smiled to herself happily. Who would have thought that a hockey team would be the place where she would find support in college?


	7. America's Sweetheart No More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lardo was having a great day. A fantastic day even. At PT this morning, she was officially cleared to run again. The boys had a good practice, finishing with a playful scrimmage that was absolutely hilarious to watch. She got an A on her History of Art midterm. She got froyo with Claudia down the hall and finished an assignment for her Foundations of Drawing class. 
> 
> So it only stood to reason that it was going to go to complete crap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello wonderful beautiful incredible readers! I am in dire need of going through and replying to comments but know that I have seen all of them and I love you alllllllllll!
> 
> This chapter and I were honestly at war with each other. Shoutout to the #bestbetabestie Maddie for talking me through this and reassuring me it didn't suck. Anyways I hope y'all like it!

Lardo was having a great day. A fantastic day even. At PT this morning, she was officially cleared to run again. The boys had a good practice, finishing with a playful scrimmage that was absolutely hilarious to watch. She got an A on her History of Art midterm. She got froyo with Claudia down the hall and finished an assignment for her Foundations of Drawing class. 

So it only stood to reason that it was going to go to complete crap.

Lardo was sitting on her bed, thumbing through a paper for her Psych class, when she was interrupted by a loud banging on her door. “Lardo? Lardo, open up!” It was Shitty.

Lardo jumped out of bed and threw open the door. “What’s wrong?”

Shitty held up a copy of  _ The Swallow _ , Samwell’s gossip magazine. “They published an article about you and Jack being an item. And now there’s reporters at the Haus harassing Jack. I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“What?!” yelled Lardo, snatching the paper out of Shitty’s hands. Scanning quickly on the cover, she found a creepy picture from outside Annie’s where she was holding Jack’s hand.  _ Jack ZImmerman dating Former Gymnast?  _ read the title. After devoting multiple paragraphs to Jack’s famous stint in rehab post Juniors, the writers added one, maybe two sentences in about Lardo winning multiple medals before her injury. The article went on to state, rather cattily, that  _ with their similar backgrounds of failing in their respective sports, the two should be well suited to each other. _ “What the actual and entire fuck. I didn’t realize blowing an Achilles was a failure.”

Shitty ran his hand through his hair distractedly. “Yeah, it’s fucking awful.”

Lardo looked back up at him. “Is Jack okay?”

Shitty shook his head. “He’s barricaded inside the Haus. Johnson is with him, and Davey and Bergey are trying to run crowd control. I wanted to stay with him too, but he insisted I check on you.”

The thought initially warmed Lardo’s heart, until she remembered that these jerks were still making Jack’s life hell. She marched over to her closet and grabbed the first jacket she could find. “Let’s go.”

“...go where?” asked Shitty warily.

“The Haus. Duh.”

Shitty looked at her like she had grown another head. “You do know that the reporters will immediately converge on you, right? Like, the only reason they’re not here and are only at the Haus is because they can’t get into the dorms?”

Lardo smiled. “Luckily, I’ve got some training in dealing with media vultures. There’s a lot of ways to shut them down, and not all of them have to be too aggressive. Let’s go.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And we’re here with Larissa Duan, who until two days ago, was considered one of the favorites for the all-around gold in London.” Helen Foster, everyone’s least favorite sideline reporter for gymnastics, smiled at the camera as she gestured to Larissa in her boot and on crutches. “Larissa, can you tell us a little bit about what’s going on?”

Larissa grimaced. “Well, in training two days ago, I was training my floor exercise, and came up a little short on the double Arabian and felt something in my ankle just pop. They took me out and examined it and it turns out I’ve ruptured my Achilles tendon.”

“That’s terrible!” Helen crowed dramatically. “So what does this mean for your future in gymnastics? What does this mean for London?”

_Is she fucking serious right now?_ Larissa tried not to scowl at her as she replied. “Well, it unfortunately means that London is out. I will not be able to recover in time.”

“And how are you feeling about that?” Helen asked, leaning in slightly.

“I mean, it is what it is. I knew that a second Olympics wasn’t guaranteed, and I’m grateful that I had as successful of a competitive career as I did.”

“That’s it? You’re not even a little bit sad?” Helen’s eyes glinted, looking for a reaction.

“Of course I’m sad.” Larissa struggled to rein in her temper. “Being a part of team USA has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember, and the fact that my journey is being cut short has hurt deeply. Watching the 2012 Olympics was not in the plan when I stuck around for this quad.” Helen opened her mouth to respond, but Larissa held up a hand to get her to stop. There was no controlling the tide of anger now. “I think I would appreciate a few days to process my grief and the end of my competitive gymnastics career before I give interviews on how I feel now. Now, are we done?” she asked, infusing the last 4 words with as much venom as she could.

Helen’s eyes widened. “Um, yes. Yes, we are. Well. Back to you, Jim.” The cameraman signaled from behind the camera that the recording had stopped, and Larissa immediately started hobbling back towards her seat on her crutches.

“Wait!” called Helen from behind her. Larissa turned around and raised an eyebrow inviting her to speak. “I didn’t mean any harm by it.”

Larissa rolled her eyes. “Really? Could have fooled me.”

“No, no, you’re getting it all wrong!” exclaimed Helen. “It’s not about you.”

“That’s not helping!” snapped Larissa.

Helen faltered slightly.  “It just makes for a more interesting story.”

Larissa glared. “So wait. Let me get this straight. I just had a devastating injury. The doctors told me the recovery means I’m going to miss my second Olympics. I just had my dreams fucking ripped out from underneath me and all you care about is your story?” She wrinkled her nose. “Go to hell.” With that, she marched off.

\---------------------------------

Lardo marched up the sidewalk to where about 15 reporters, cameramen, and additional crew were camped in front of the house. Dave Cohen and Alex Berger, the two first line wingers, were on the porch trying to threaten them to go away. As Lardo came closer, the two lineys looked over and their eyes widened. Dave literally launched himself over the side of the porch to try and intercept them. “Lardo, don’t get yourself mixed up in this. They’re fucking douchebags just trying to get a rise out of Jack.”

Lardo shook her head. “They won’t leave unless someone makes them. Let me talk to them.”

“Lardo, I really don’t know if that’s a good idea--”

“Davey, if you know what’s good for you, you will get  _ out of my way _ .” Lardo hissed.

Davey held his hands up in surrender and moved to one side, allowing her to pass by and climb up over the side porch rails. She walked over to the front and plopped herself down on the steps and looked out at the crowd. From what she could tell, most of them were gossip and entertainment shows, and a couple of sports writers that hadn’t covered much gymnastics. 

“Hi everyone. I’m so glad you could all be here today,” she said in the most sickeningly sweet voice she could muster, each word dripping with sarcasm. Behind her, she heard Davey and Shitty choke, trying not to laugh. Bergey stayed next to her with his arms crossed, but she heard the slightly huffed out breathy laugh he let out. She continued. “Now, unplanned as this little conference was, I guess I’m happy to use this opportunity to chat since you all seem to be  showing  _ such _ an interest in my life after gymnastics.”

The reporters looked taken aback for a second, but quickly recovered. “Larissa! So good to see you again. We’ve missed you in the competitive gymnastics world. How’s the...uhhh...injury?” asked one, clearly not having read as much on her as Jack.

“You mean the Achilles rupture that took me out of running for consecutive gold medals at the Olympics?” Lardo was a little peeved. Whether or not she liked gymnastics, they were still treating her as an accessory and Jack as the story. She figured reminding them of her accomplishments wasn’t a bad idea, plus it could take the heat off Jack. “It’s recovering quite well actually. The athletics department here at Samwell has been so generous with their time and efforts into making sure that physical therapy goes as smoothly as possible. After all, as an Olympic gold medalist, I’m a valuable asset to campus.”

The assembled reporters laughed nervously as they all mumbled their agreement. After a second, a female reporter on one side opened her mouth. “Larissa, I’m Susan Matthias from Out of Bounds.”

Lardo groaned internally. Out Of Bounds was an awful sports gossip website, specializing in making life hell for athletes.

Susan continued, oblivious to Lardo’s inner turmoil. “What is life like, dating another well known athlete?”

“Well, I’m not actually dating Jack Zimmermann...so, life isn’t that weird.”

“Oh, come on dear, you don’t have to lie!” Susan laughed shrilly. “Tell us what you like about Jack Zimmermann.”

Lardo tried not to grit her teeth. “Next question, please.”

Another reporter jumped in. “Larissa, Scott McClain from The Athlete’s Journal. What is life like adjusting from a regimented training schedule to college?”

Lardo jumped on that question, because it was actually interesting. “It was hard at first! It definitely took some adjustment. Getting involved with an extracurricular activity like managing the hockey team really helped me set my schedule in place, though.”

Susan piped up. “Oh, so you and Jack met because you were managing the hockey team?”

Larissa narrowed her eyes at her. “Yes, I did.”

“So was it love at first sight?” Susan looked inquisitively over at her.

Lardo groaned. “It wasn’t anything because we. Are. Not. Dating.” 

Another reporter piped up. “Frances Rivera here, from AEMN. How has your workout plan changed since leaving gymnastics and coming to college?”

“I had to readjust, first because of my injury, and then because of my schedule. I really only just got cleared to start running and doing full leg workouts again. So I’ve been spending a lot of time on my core and upper body strength. One of the best things about managing a hockey team is that it motivates me to work out with them. I may not be doing all the on ice training, but I’m in the weight room keeping up with them.”

Frances grinned. “And who can hold a plank longer, you or Jack?”

Lardo blinked. “You know what, we actually haven’t tested that out.” She looked up at Bergey. “Remind me to do that next workout.”

“Speaking of you and Jack,” Susan Matthias slid back into the conversation. “Larissa, how do you think dating a recovering coke addict will affect your image as America’s sweetheart?” 

Lardo’s jaw dropped.  _ Did she honestly just say that to me? _ Susan was still smiling and holding out her microphone, oblivious to the fact that most of the crowd around her were looking at her incredulously. Shitty was clenching his fists murderously, and Davey’s eyes were narrowed. 

Bergey started to move forward, but Lardo put a hand out in front of him. “Let me handle this.” she muttered. As she stood up slowly, she let her media face drop and showed all the murderous rage she was feeling. Susan’s smile faltered and she shrunk back slightly.

“All right, well, that’s enough of me playing nice with you. I have been nothing but polite, answering your questions even though you have come onto campus, invaded not only my privacy and Jack’s privacy, but caused unbelievable headaches for other members of the Samwell Hockey team, and disregarded any human decency when it comes to the lives of private citizens. So here’s a few things for you. For the final time, Jack and I aren’t dating. Even if we were, Jack is not a coke addict. And even if he was, I honestly don’t give two shits about my reputation as America’s sweetheart.” There were audible gasps from the crowd at this. “I am not the Golden Girl. I’m not the sweetheart. I’m just a normal damn college student trying to live my life without being hounded about my choices.” She jabbed her finger out viciously at Susan. “Now, get the fuck off my lawn, you fucking douche. And the rest of you vultures can get out too. Otherwise, I’m calling the police and reporting you all for harassment.” With that, Lardo turned on her heel and marched into the Haus.

~~~~~~~

_ America’s Sweetheart No More?  _ read the headline on  _ Out Of Bounds _ , followed by the subheader  _ Olympic Gold Medalist Larissa Duan Rips Reporter to Shreds, Cusses Her Out. _

“You know, I should frame that.” said Lardo, laughing as she leaned over the couch to look at the article on Holster’s laptop. “It can go on the wall right next to my Sports Illustrated cover.” The team had congregated in the living room of the Haus after Shitty sent out a message to the group text about what was going on, excluding Johnson, who was still upstairs with Jack, and Mack (shocker).

Holster laughed. “Maybe we can blow up some of these quotes to put on there too. I’m a fan of  _ ‘Hearing the words “fucking douche” come out of Larissa’s mouth was a shocker, considering the wholesome All American front she’s put up for years. _ ’”

“In good news, there are comments saying that the bitch deserved it for saying that Jack ruined your reputation,” Ransom said thoughtfully, scrolling through the article on his phone. “And someone else commented that you’re 20 years old and there’s no reason to force you to talk like a Sesame Street kid.”

“I mean, they’ve got a fucking point,” said Shitty from where he was laying on the ground. “Cursing is a sign that you’re a damn intelligent person anyways.”

The rest of the team all agreed loudly to that, making Lardo laugh. 

“Lardo?” came a quiet voice from the hallway.

Lardo spun around to see Jack standing out there. “Hey. You doing ok?” She quickly walked out to him.

Jack nodded minutely. “"You..." He trails off, expression sheepish as he rubbed his neck. "You didn't...euh….you didn’t have to do all that.”

Lardo smiled softly. “Hey. Us athletic wonderkids have to stick together, eh?”

Jack looked at her and smiled softly. “Yeah. Yeah we do.”

“Good,” said Lardo. She held out her arms. “Now come give me a hug, you big lug.”

Jack grinned and folded her into his arms. She sighed deeply, letting the stress of the day melt away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably my final update before the New Year. Who's ready to die over the end of year 3 with me, though?
> 
> Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and best wishes to you and yours!


	8. Hazeapalooza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lardo sighed and folded herself into bed after a long week. With the season coming up quickly, she needed to get her rest while she could. Unfortunately, it seemed fate had other plans for her. And by fate, she meant the rest of Samwell Hockey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been a hot minute. Sorry y'all. Life has been nutso with work and life and general things. This chapter came to fruition thanks mostly to the OMGCP Writing Discord and betas who came over and threw things at me (Shoutout to #BestBetaBestie Maddie!) Also, I know this has been a crazy week fandom wise but honestly y'all I really love being around you people - you're so encouraging and supportive of a first time writer like...it's amazing. *hugs* Anyways, have 2000+ words of pure shenanigans.
> 
> Warnings: Hazing, drinking, dumb teenagers in general

_ Ahhhhhh bed _ . Lardo sighed and folded herself into bed after a long week. With the season coming up quickly, she needed to get her rest while she could. Unfortunately, it seemed fate had other plans for her. And by fate, she meant the rest of Samwell Hockey. 

 

_ Knock knock _ ! 

 

Groaning, Lardo dragged herself out of bed and answered the door. “What?” she griped, barely opening her eyes.

 

“Sorry Boss Lady!” she heard Bergey say. Suddenly, she had a sack over her head while she was picked up and tossed over a shoulder.

 

“What the fuck dude?” she yelled. She beat the back of whoever was carrying her with all the power in her fists.

 

She felt more than heard Davey beneath her say, “Damn, for being the manager of a hockey team, you sure have no clue how to punch.”

 

“I’ll show you no clue,” growled Lardo, dropping her hands further down and aiming for the kidney. By the yelp she got, it sounded like her hit had landed.

 

“Hey Lardo, don’t hurt Davey. He’s just doing his job.” Bergey remarked from behind them.

 

“What job? What the fuck are we doing? Where are we going? WHY DO I HAVE A BAG OVER MY HEAD?!” Lardo started struggling more in earnest, but Davey had a solid grip on her and her center of gravity was off.

 

“Relax, Lardo. It’s just initiation.” Davey patted the back of her leg in what she assumed was supposed to be a comforting manner.

 

“Ah. I see.  _ Just _ initiation. Would you mind telling me what, exactly, that fucking means?”

 

“Do all gymnasts curse this much off camera or is it just you?” She can hear Bergey’s smirk from somewhere vaguely back and up from her head.

 

“You can take the girl out of Boston, but you can’t take the Boston out of the girl.” To punctuate her sentence, she flipped Bergey off. Bergey laughs and she continues. “No, seriously, what am I going to have to do?”

 

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing dangerous, just slightly embarrassing. Come on, haven’t you ever been hazed before?”

 

Lardo outright laughed at that. “Not well…”

 

\----------------------------

 

Larissa settled into her bed at the ranch. Her first day at her first ever senior elite training camp had gone really well, and she could feel the pleasant ache of a job well done. Across the room, Bella was reading a book. “Hey, Bel.”

 

Bella looked up. “Yeah?”

 

“You excited to be a senior?”

 

Bella grinned. She and Larissa had come up through the junior ranks together, competing at multiple international events as a team. “So excited. You?”

 

Larissa opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a light tapping at the door. “What was that?” she sat up, looking at the door.

 

Bella frowned. “I don’t know.” They had a strict curfew at camps, in rooms by 9:30, lights out by 10. At 9:55, the coaches had probably already done their rounds. 

 

Larissa shrugged and hopped out of bed. She cracked open the door to see what was going on, and was confused to see Rebecca Kimball, the 2007 World All Around Champion standing there. “Rebecca? What’s up?”

 

Rebecca grinned, a sneaky yet scary grin that thrilled Larissa to her toes but also scared her out of her mind. “Get dressed, squirts. We’re going to the lake.”   
  


Larissa squinted at her. “We’re doing what? After curfew? No way.”

 

Rebecca leaned against the door. “Yes way. It’s tradition. Any member of the junior national team must go through this before coming onto the senior team.”

 

“What if we get caught?” Bella piped up from the background.

  
“Us? Get caught?” Rebecca scoffed. “Bel, we’ve been doing this for years. I think we know how it works now.”

 

Larissa frowns, confused. “We’ve only had national camps since 2001.”

 

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Are you coming or not?” She pushed the door over Larissa’s head open all the way.

 

Larissa and Bella looked at each other and shrugged, clearly communicating the  _ why not? _ to each other. They pulled jackets on over their pajamas and walked outside with Rebecca.

 

“All right, kiddos…” Rebecca started.

 

“You’re literally 2 years older than us. Why are we kiddos?” Bella grumbled.

 

Rebecca waved a hand nonchalantly. “You’re the babies of the senior team - ergo, kiddos. Anyways, this will be a test to prove your worth and grit as senior national team members.”

 

Bella and Larissa groaned in unison. “Dude. We’re already sore. And we’ve still got physical abilities testing coming up.” Larissa could almost feel her arms hurting in response. 

 

“I swear on my world medals that we won’t do anything that will interfere with your ability to perform well in camp.” Rebecca crossed her heart solemnly.

 

They made it to the lake, where the rest of the senior team stood. Charlotte Cohen, Pia Narayan, Stella Evans, and Alessia Miller, the other first year seniors, also were there, looking scared. 

 

“All right kiddos! Welcome to the senior dunk!”

 

“The what?” Charlotte spoke up, looking very concerned.

 

“All new seniors must go through the dunk.” Rebecca pointed up at a tree overhanging the dock. “See that branch? The one that goes over the water?”

 

Larissa looked up to see a large thick branch, about 6 feet above the water and easily a foot wide. The end looked like it had been chopped off purposefully.

 

Rebecca continued. “We want to see your best balance beam dismounts from that trunk. And don’t half ass it. The rest of us get to judge you and your ranking will be your priority line for ice baths tomorrow.” 

 

There was a low murmur from everyone assembled. The ice baths were always a hot commodity after workouts. 

 

“All right,” Amanda Sanderson spoke up. She had barely lost to Rebecca at last year’s Worlds; the two of them were widely expected to battle for the all around gold in Beijing. “We’ll be going in alphabetical order by last name, so Charlotte, you’re up first.”

 

“Do I have to do this? What if I break something?” Charlotte looked fearfully up at the tree.

 

“Dude, it’s wider than a balance beam, and you do a layout full on those.” Amanda folded her arms, looking unimpressed. “Just go.”

 

“Ugh, fine.” Charlotte walked over to where there was a knotted rope hanging from the branch and climbed up to the branch easily. She stood up next to the trunk and shouted down. “When should I go?”

 

“Whenever you want!” Rebecca yelled back. “Extra points for creativity and grace.”

 

Charlotte nodded and took a deep breath, setting herself up. She stepped forward a few paces, did a switch leap into a switch half into a back tuck full off the branch, hitting the water with a loud splash. She came up gasping. “Oh my god it’s freaking freezing in here!” She swam quickly to the nearby dock and hauled herself up, shivering. “Please tell me someone has towels!”

 

Kayla Paulson, last year’s vault world champion, grinned and tossed her one. “Beautiful and graceful as expected, Lottie.”

 

“Yes, yes, very nice, although pretty boring. All right little miss trickster. Larissa, it’s your turn.” Amanda gestured her towards the tree.

 

Larissa smiled and clambered up the rope. She had Ideas. “Do you mind if I do a quick walk through up here to make sure I don’t die trying to do this?”

 

Rebecca cracked up. “I suppose Lisa would appreciate that. 30 second touch, go ahead.” She winked up at Larissa, then looked at her watch to keep track.

 

Larissa took a deep breath to calm her racing heart, and quickly walked up and down the branch, measuring out the skills she could fit in and where her feet would go. As soon as Rebecca called “time!”, she set herself up about two feet ahead of where she had climbed up and took a deep breath. Aerial cartwheel, back layout step out, back handspring step out, punch up into a double arabian front. She hit the water feet first and almost died because Charlotte had really not been kidding, the lake was extremely cold. “Shit shit shit shit shit!” she coughed violently as she resurfaced. 

 

The rest of the seniors cracked up. “Damn, Duan has a potty mouth on her!” yelled Kayla gleefully.

 

“I’m from Boston, you dipshits. Of course I have a potty mouth.” Larissa griped as she hauled herself onto the dock. Catching the towel Kayla flung at her, she wrapped it around herself gratefully. “Tell me you guys have actually all done this shit as well.”

 

Rebecca smirked. “Of course we have. Do you really think you’re the first one to do a double arabian off of that?”

 

“Uh, Rebecca? You did a single arabian.” Amanda drily adds behind them.

 

“First of all, rude. Second of all, I didn’t ask for your opinion.” Rebecca playfully sticks her tongue out at Amanda.

 

“And third of all, you hurt yourself doing it last year and were told not to do it again this year.” Everyone whips around to see Natalya standing there, arms crossed, looking extremely unimpressed. “Back to bed. All of you. Except Rebecca, Amanda, and Kayla. You three come with me.” 

 

The three girls named all gulped nervously. Pia, Alessia, and Stella all bolted back for their rooms. The other older seniors slunk away nervously. Charlotte groaned. “Well, that’s unfair. Why did you have to show up after Larissa and I were already half frozen?”

 

Natalya looked at her. “I don’t want to hear it. You should have had the common sense to say no when you were told about this. Back to your room. Now.”

 

Charlotte dropped her head. “Yes ma’am.” She trudged back to her room.

 

Larissa and Bella also started quietly trekking back to their room when Natalya called out from behind them. “Larissa!”

 

Larissa turned around slowly, praying she wasn’t about to get in extra trouble.

 

Natalya smiled slightly. “Nice form on the double arabian. Might want to watch the potty mouth though. I have a feeling you’ll be having to do a lot of press in the next few years.”

 

Larissa’s jaw dropped.  _ Did she mean…? _ But before she could decipher that, Bella grabbed her and dragged her back to her room.

 

\----------------------------------------------

 

Bergey and Davey were howling by the time Lardo finished her story. “So your hazing ended up with you getting a compliment and the three seniors getting in trouble? That’s amazing.” Davey cackled. “Anyways, we’re here.” He set Lardo back down on her feet and pushed her ahead of him. She heard Ransom and Holster in the room, and judging from the sound, they also seemed to have no clue what was happening.

 

“All fucking right! Lardo is here and it is time to go!” Shitty’s voice crowed out. “All right, froggos. Hands out in front of you.”

 

Lardo sighed deeply but held out her hands. She felt a soft pair of hands encircle her wrists and then start binding them. “You okay, Lards?” Shitty murmured in her ear. “I don’t want to like, encroach on your boundaries, but you’re a part of this team, ok?”

 

Lardo nodded before realizing he probably couldn’t see that under the sack. “I’m fine, dude. Don’t worry about me. I’m not fragile.” 

 

Shitty laughed. “You’re certainly not that.” He finished tying her up and stepped back. “All right motherfuckers, sacks off!”

 

Lardo felt the bag around her head fly up and blinked against the sudden onslaught of light. When she finally adjusted, she realized “...dude your idea of hazing is tying us up in the locker room?”

 

“Oh no Lardo, this is only the beginning, my dear.” Shitty produced cans of Natty Lite from behind his back and put one in front of each of the frogs. “First one to finish chugging their beer gets the first point of Hazeapalooza! Ready…..GO!” 

 

Lardo sat down on the floor and grabbed the beer can to put between her feet to steady the can, then popped it open and started chugging. Meanwhile, Ransom and Holster could not figure out how to open the can with their hands tied until they saw what Lardo did and quickly tried to imitate her. But Lardo easily finished her beer first, and then let out a giant belch. “I can’t believe you made me chug a Natty Lite. Ugh.”

 

Shitty cheered loudly. “Atta girl Lardo! Show ‘em how it’s done!” 

 

Ransom and Holster finished their beers at about the same time and slammed down the cans. “She’s gonna show us how well she can’t hold her beer though. Girl is tiny.” boomed Holster.

 

Lardo raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh.”

 

“Less chatting, more drinking!” hollered Shitty, putting another beer can in front of each of them. “Now...you must figure out how to get down to your underwear in under 3 minutes without undoing your ropes. For every 30 seconds you go over the 3 minutes, another beer can will be added to your drinking pile!”

 

Lardo’s head snapped up. “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh….”

 

Shitty stopped at that, eyes widening and face turning bright red. “Oh my god. Dude. You definitely don’t have to do that, Lardo. Holy shit. Please don’t. That’s so uncomfortable. I’m so sorry I asked you. I mean, unless you want to? That’s your right. But don’t feel like you…”   
  
“SHITTY!” yelled Lardo. 

 

He stopped his rambling, looking at her.

 

“I don’t even have anything to strip down to.” she said, gesturing to her boy shorts and tank. “So really, I’m already in essentially my underwear.”

 

She didn’t think it was possible, but somehow Shitty turned even more red. “Oh…” he mumbled. “Well...uh….” He cleared his throat. “Lardo wins for coming prepared!”

 

Ransom and Holster immediately protested. “Dude that’s unfair!”

 

“Too bad. Drink up me froggies, yo ho!” Bergey and Davey gleefully shoved more beer at each of them. “Now, strip!” 

 

Lardo laughed as she settled back to watch Ransom and Holster struggle. This was definitely a much better hazing than last time.


	9. Planking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elbows onto the ground, she smiled at Jack. “Prepare to go down.”
> 
> “Not on your life, Duan,” Jack chirped back at her. “But if you drop out before Mack, you’re fired.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, wonderful readers! I hope you all have been doing well. I just wanted to let everyone know - I'm putting this on temporary hiatus after this chapter. Writing this has been really hard for me with everything going on at USAG. I'm friends with some of those girls and this is having me dredge up a lot of camp memories that aren't the most pleasant. So, for my own mental health, I'll be taking a step back. I appreciate everyone who has supported this fic. I don't think I'll walk away from it forever, because I do love this AU so much, but I definitely need a break. So, angsty note out of the way, please enjoy ridiculous fluffy shenanigans ahead.

Coach Hall’s whistle blew sharply across the ice. “Okay boys! That’s enough..” he hollered.

 

Lardo looked up from where she was prepping the bench for tomorrow night’s home opener. The last couple of weeks had flown by in a flurry of season preparations and midterms. Now they were getting ready to start the season against Clarkson, a...not very good team. Some of the boys weren’t taking practice as seriously (and by some of the boys, she really just meant Mack) so Coach Hall made them skate suicides, and the entire team was now slightly dying. Holster was leaning on Ransom. Shitty had braced himself against the boards, looking like he was about to collapse. Bergey and Davey both had their hands on their knees, bent over, panting. Mack was straight up laying down on the ice. Only Jack remained upright, albeit breathing fairly heavily himself.

 

Lardo laughed and stepped out onto the ice to start collecting the pucks and cones scattered around while Coach Hall talked to the guys about how practice went and reaming them out for not being as serious. Once he finished up, the boys started trooping into the locker room. After finishing cleanup, Lardo followed behind, precariously balancing the puck bucket and the stack of cones. As she got over to the equipment room, she saw Jack, waiting in his Under Armour, holding the door open for her so she could drop everything. “Thanks, Jack.”

 

Jack smiled warmly. “No problem. That was some practice, eh?”

 

“Oh, what, is wonderboy Zimmermann telling me he can’t handle some suicides?” Lardo teased gently, smiling back. “Come on. Woman up. Suicides aren’t that bad.”

 

“Look who’s talking, Ms. I Can’t Even Skate.”

 

“Oh, yeah? Let me see you do a backflip on a beam then.” Lardo nudged Jack playfully with her elbow. 

 

Jack elbowed her back. “That is a specialized skill, Ms. Duan. I’m talking conditioning. On land or ice, I can do more conditioning than you any day.”

 

“That is a lie!” Lardo gasped in mock outrage. “How dare you say such a thing!”

 

Jack held his hands up. “I speak nothing but the truth.”

 

Lardo’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll see about that.” Cupping her hands around her mouth, she hollered at the top of her lungs. “HEY! BERGEY!”

 

Bergey stuck his head out of the laundry room. “What up, boss lady?”

 

“Tell Jack I can definitely out-condition him.”

 

Bergey looked solemnly at Jack. “Cap. She’s unbeatable. Don’t try to take her on.”

 

“Betrayed by my own teammates.” Jack shook his head. “I demand a trial.”

 

“Oh yeah!” exclaimed Bergey. “Lardo, you and Jack need to do that plank contest like that one reporter chick was talking about.”

 

“Brooooooo, plank contest with Lardo and Jack? Where at?” Ransom came barrelling out of the locker room, closely followed by Holster and Shitty. 

 

Lardo looked over at Jack. “What do you say, wanna go now?”

 

Jack grinned. “You’re on.”

 

“‘Swasome,” Holster said.

 

Shitty turned around and yelled over his shoulder. “Hey fuckers! Is everyone decent?” 

 

“I’m never decent! But we’re all covered,” came Davey’s voice.

 

Shitty marched back into the dressing room. “Lardo and Jack are gonna come in here and do a plank-off.”

 

A resounding chorus of whoops followed his statement followed by a loud groan. “Oh goody. Let’s all watch a cheerleader and a daddy’s boy fail at doing planks.” The eyeroll from Mack was practically audible.

 

Lardo shoved past Shitty into the dressing room. “I’m sorry, who here has three Olympic medals? Oh, that’s right….me.”

 

“In what, ribbon dancing? Give me a break.” Mack sneered at her.

 

Lardo growled.  _ I am going to rip your balls off and shove them up your asshole _ she thought furiously, balling her hands into fists by her side.

 

“If you feel so strongly about that, why don’t you join in?” Jack came up behind Lardo and put a calming hand on her shoulder. 

 

Mack glared at Jack. “I don’t need no fucking plank contest to beat up on a pair of pussies.”

 

“Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.” Shitty came up behind Jack. 

 

(In the background Lardo could hear Ransom go “Oh, shit, a three Tommy offense.”)

 

Shitty continued. “I’m afraid that backing down from a challenge from your captain and your manager only serves to make you look more like a coward.”

 

“I’m not a fucking coward!” Mack yelled, stepping forward. 

 

“Good,” snapped Lardo. “Plank time then. Let’s go.”

 

Mack sneered. “And what do I get if I win?”

 

“Pride? Bragging rights? This isn’t that serious, dude.” Shitty rolled his eyes.

 

“If I win, you tell the coaches I should be first line center. And captain. Since this asshole stole it from me.” Mack shouldered past Jack aggressively and found a spot to lay down.

 

Lardo stared at him. “I mean, I don’t really have that kind of power, but I can mention it to Hall & Murray in the 0.00000000000001% chance that you win.” She looked over at Jack. He shrugged back at her. “Anyways, who’s going to yell start?”

 

“I will!” Holster shouted enthusiastically. “All right everyone, assume your preparatory position!”

 

Lardo followed Jack down to the floor. She rolled her neck and pulled her arms across her body to give them a quick stretch. Elbows onto the ground, she smiled at Jack. “Prepare to go down.”

 

“Not on your life, Duan,” Jack chirped back at her.  “But if you drop out before Mack, you’re fired.”

 

“Less talking, more action!” bellowed Holster. “Are you ready? On your mark, get set, go!”

 

Lardo braced herself up into a nice easy plank. Elbows aligned below the shoulders, arms parallel to the body at about shoulder-width distance, and toes ground into the floor about hip width apart. 

 

The rest of the team was cheering, taking bets, and posting pictures to Facebook. Ransom and Holster took it upon themselves to be Lardo’s personal hype squad and kept yelling “LET’S GO!” in her face. Meanwhile Shitty, Davey, Bergey, and Johnson had gone with some sort of Haus cheer group. The other guys were laughing and cheering both of them on equally, and Mack’s frustration at being ignored showed pretty clearly on his face.

 

At about the three minute mark, Mack’s arms were shaking pretty intensely, Jack was sweating, and Lardo was starting to feel some burn in her glutes. She didn’t let any of that show as she called out to Mack, “How you doing over there, Tommy boy?”

 

Mack’s head snapped up and he growled at her. “Don’t call me Tommy!” Right as he said that, his arms gave out and he crashed hard onto the ground. 

 

The rest of the team jeered and hollered, and Mack looked equal parts humiliated and furious. He shakily stood up and stalked off to the showers. 

 

“Serves him fucking right, bringing back all that shit about you not deserving your spot,” Shitty said to Jack. There were murmurs of agreement from around the room. 

 

“While I agree you deserve captaincy and all that jazz, I still maintain the point that I’m in better shape than you!” Lardo yelled teasingly.

 

“Maybe you should save your oxygen for that plank of yours. Wouldn’t want you to give out,” Jack called back.

 

In response to that, Lardo decided to start doing walking planks, pressing up one arm at a time into extended plank and then dropping back down into forearm plank. Above her, Ransom and Holster lost their minds.

 

“DID YOU SEE THAT?”

 

“LARDO IS STRONGER THAN ALL OF YOU!”

 

“JUST GIVE UP NOW ZIMMMERMANN!”

 

Lardo completed 10 reps and continued hanging out in her regular plank. Funnily enough, doing the walking planks had helped ease the strain in her legs slightly and she was able to readjust herself into a fairly comfortable position. Well, as comfortable as a plank can get. She looked over at Jack. “How ya feeling Jackabelle?”

 

Jack shifted to one arm so he could raise the other one to flip her off, then dropped back to his plank.

 

Lardo laughed and continued as the rest of the team kept cheering. A couple of the guys started placing bets on who was going to win and how long they were going to last. 

 

The 5 minute mark hit and both Jack and Lardo were shaking, all of their muscles straining with the tension of holding up a plank. Finally, finally, Jack gasped out “I can’t!” and collapsed, breathing heavily. The Haus cheer squad groaned in defeat while Ransom and Holster started cheering.

 

Lardo held her plank for a solid 5 more seconds before crashing onto the ground herself. She rolled over onto her back and feebly pumped her fist into the air. “Told you so, Zimmermann. Never mess with a BADgirl.”

 

“A what?” Shitty asked, looking confused.

 

Lardo sat up. “Oh, long running joke. Actually….” she tried to get up but couldn’t. “Hey Ransom, can you grab my backpack?” She pointed to the corner and Ransom grabbed her bag. From the front, she pulled out her old gym jacket that she kept there in case of emergency. “The visual helps.”  She tossed the jacket at Shitty.

 

He caught it and looked at the back design. “Bragg’s Academy of Dance and Gymnastics. BADG. BADGirl. Ha. That’s clever.”

 

Lardo grinned. “Thanks, I came up with it. It’s a lot cooler than shooting stars and dragons and whatever weird sparkle metaphorical anthropomorphic mascot other gyms use.”

 

“Somehow I’m not surprised at all that you came up with BADgirls,” Jack joked, stretching out his arms. “What other secret talents do you have, besides planks and puns?”

 

Lardo laughed. “That’s pretty much it. Although apparently I have a good eye for fashion?” She tried to stand up but wobbled.

 

“According to who?” Holster caught her under the arm and helped steady her.

 

“The people I worked with to do my leotard line.” Lardo shook her legs out.

 

“Bro, you had your own leotard line? Doooope.” Ransom looked impressed.

 

Lardo shrugged. “Quite a few girls had their own leotard line.”

 

“Do you have any with you? I wanna see!” Bergey looked at her beseechingly. 

 

“Nah, don’t have any with me….but actually, hold on.” Lardo pulled out her pencil box and her sketchbook from her Drawing 1 class and flipped to a blank page. She started sketching, thinking back to when she first got her line.

 

\------------------

 

“Welcome Larissa!” As she was ushered into a small conference room at Gym Gear Elite, Larissa smiled. This was probably the most exciting thing Chari had signed her for yet, because most of the gymnasts did their collaboration lines with GK. Larissa had insisted that a smaller, more unique line get her collection.

 

“I’m so happy to be here,” she said, shaking hands with Debra and Maya, the two main designers she was working with. “This is a really exciting thing for me to do. I’ve been looking forward to this meeting all week.”

 

“So have we, to be honest,” said Maya, gesturing Larissa to the seat in front of her. “So, first things first, what are you looking for in a line?”

 

Larissa grinned. “Well, as you know, our gym nickname is BADGirls” 

 

Debra laughed. “We had heard that, yes.”

 

“So I really want this line to be sporty and confidence building. Lots of clean lines, minimal sparkle, mostly neutrals with flashes of bright color.

 

“It’ll be unique, that’s for sure” Maya scribbled down notes on her artpad. “Have you sketched out any leotards?”

 

“Yes, I have.” Larissa pulled out the notebook with her ideas and passed it across the table. The two women leaned their heads together, flipping through the pages.

 

Finally, Debra looked up at her. “You have an excellent eye for fashion, Did you know that?”

 

Larissa was a little taken aback. “Uh, no? I just like playing with color and texture.”

 

“Well, you do. Take this one for example.” Debra flipped the notebook to a page featuring a dark grey leotard with 3 red and yellow diagonal wavy stripes. “See here? This not only gives the leotard great visual interest, but the way you have the stripes will really accentuate the gymnast’s lines.”

 

“Oh, well, yeah, I like, draped fabric on myself and posed in the mirror to see what effects I liked.”

 

Debra nodded. “I definitely think we should work on developing this leotard. What were you thinking fabric wise?”   
  


“I’m not 100% sure? I want the grey to be matte and the red and yellow to have some sheen.”

 

Maya pulled out some fabric samples. “Here, show us what you like and don’t like.”

 

The afternoon passed quickly, with the three of them doodling and picking out fabrics and laughing. Larissa hadn’t had so much fun with a professional gymnastics thing ever before.

  
  


Before they knew it, Tina, the admin for the company, was tapping on the door. “‘Scuse me, but it’s almost getting to closing time.” She looked wide eyed at the conference room table, covered in colors and drawings and swatches. “Did you guys get a lot done?”

 

Debra nodded. “Oh yes, we are going to have an absolutely incredible collaboration line with Ms. Duan. This may be just the thing we need to get our company some really good attention and marketing and get us kickstarted.”

 

“Oh, you guys did most of the work, I’m mostly providing the name,” Larissa protested.

 

Maya shook her head. “Don’t discount yourself, Larissa. You’ve got some really strong ideas here and this is just as much your design as it is ours.”

 

Larissa laughed. “I just really love doodling.”

 

“Well, take an art class or two in college, if you go. Wouldn’t want all that talent to go to waste.” Debra smiled. “We’ll send you photos of mockups and prototypes in a couple of weeks, ok?”

 

“Sounds perfect. Thank you for meeting with me!”

\---------------------------------------------------------

 

“Whoa, this is super cool.” Davey held up the sketch Lardo had done of the grey and red leotard. It had become the signature one from her line, and Bella had even worn it at National Championships this year in her honor.

 

“Yeah, it is.” Bergey peered over his shoulder.

 

“All right you guys. Let’s finish getting showered up and out of here so that we can get some rest tonight.” Jack, ever the captain, started herding everyone out of the locker room. Davey handed Lardo back her sketchpad before picking up his bag and heading out.

 

Once the locker room had cleared, Shitty walked over. “Can I see that?” Lardo nodded and handed it to him. He inspected it closely, then started flipping through the rest of the sketchbook. “Hey, you’re a really good artist.”

 

Lardo shrugged. “I’ve always loved doodling.”

 

Shitty laughed. “That’s true. Remember the time that you were…”

 

“Shitty don’t you dare.” Lardo could feel the blush start rising.

 

“...at the Olympics on international TV and were doodling in a notebook while your teammates were on floor?”

 

“They were  _ warming up _ you idiot. I didn’t have to go in the rotation, and I was nervous because we were about to win an Olympic gold medal.”

 

“Still made for great TV when whatever their names were on the floor…”

 

“Bella, Kayla, and Amanda, yes I know I was there.”

 

“...were tumbling away, and the other two…”

 

“You mean Rebecca and Elena?”

 

“...were cheering away and then there’s you curled up in a chair with headphones on and doodling, looking unconcerned af.”

 

“I’m going to set you on fire.”

 

Shitty laughed before turning serious. “But honestly, you are a great artist. You should definitely pursue this. Even maybe major in it.”

 

Lardo frowned. “I am nowhere near good enough to major in it.”

 

“Uh, yes. Yes, you are. Trust me.”

 

“Well, I suppose it’s as good of an idea as any.” Lardo punched Shitty in the shoulder. “Now go shower. Your hair is  _ rank _ .”

  
  
“Your face is rank.”

 

“Your rank is rank.”

 

Shitty cackled. “Well played, Duan.” He saluted as he headed out.

 

Shaking her head, Lardo packed her own stuff back up and started walking to her dorm.


	10. A Really Good Bad Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lardo grinned and stepped forward, bracing her hands on either side of the keg. She bounced up and down on her toes, getting herself comfortable, then jumped up and balanced herself in a straddle position. She took a deep breath and then pushed her hips up, engaging her core and pulling tight into a handstand position.
> 
> Murmurs of awe broke out all over the party. In the background, Lardo could distinctly hear Ransom and Holster. “Bro, did Lardo just press up into a kegstand?”
> 
> “Bro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE RETURNED. Well, at least, I have written another chapter. I'm still working through some stuff with this, but this chapter popped up in my head and....it's the handstand kegstand chapter. How can I NOT post it???
> 
> Thank you all for all of the comment of love and support! They mean the world to me and I'm so happy that people are enjoying this story enough that they want me to continue writing it.
> 
> I HOPE YOU ENJOY!
> 
> TW: mildly impaired consent, underage drinking, internalized homophobia

“MVP! MVP! MVP!” Ransom and Holster chanted as they carried Lardo in on their shoulders. Everyone was hyped after winning their home opener 5-0. Lardo had managed to keep everything pretty straight during the game, and even had a sick moment where a puck came flying at her face. She’d instinctively batted it away with her clipboard and it somehow ended up whizzing past the opposing team’s goalie,

 

“brAHs!” Shitty announced, standing at the keg. “Bring forth the Lardo!”

 

Ransom and Holster carried her forward and placed her down gently in front of the keg.

 

“Larissa Duan, also known as Lardo, let today be known as the day that you deflected a puck with your clipboard into a net. Though it did not count as an actual goal, in the eyes of Samwell Hockey, you have scored the first frog point of the season!”

 

Raucous cheers burst through the crowd. Bergey and Davey had somehow found kazoos and were blowing them enthusiastically. Towards the back, Lardo even saw Jack applauding from the stairs. 

 

Shitty continued. “As such, it is tradition that you will get the first kegstand of the night for your contribution!” He motioned to Bergey and Davey. “Please hold up our illustrious manager.”

 

Lardo held a hand up. “Whoa whoa whoa. Illustrious manager doesn't need a leg hold. Did you forget what I'm trained in?”

 

Shitty paused, and then grinned wildly. “You are indeed correct! Please, at your ease.” 

 

Lardo grinned and stepped forward, bracing her hands on either side of the keg. She bounced up and down on her toes, getting herself comfortable, then jumped up and balanced herself in a straddle position. She took a deep breath and then pushed her hips up, engaging her core and pulling tight into a handstand position. 

 

Murmurs of awe broke out all over the party. In the background, Lardo could distinctly hear Ransom and Holster. “Bro, did Lardo just press up into a kegstand?”

 

“ _ Bro _ .”

 

Shitty cackled. “All right, well let's see how well you hold it while drinking.” He held the keg tap up to her mouth as the rest of the party started chanting “Drink, drink, drink, drink!”

 

Lardo managed to stay upright for about 15 seconds before starting to choke on beer. The carbonation started going straight up her nose and her eyes were watering as she dropped down, trying really hard not to die. Shitty thumped her on the back as she coughed. “All right all right! Not bad for your first time drinking!”

 

Lardo continued to cough as she stared up at Shitty. “First….kegstand….not….first alcohol…” she wheezed out. 

 

Shitty looked taken aback. “Oy, where did you drink and how?”

 

Lardo cracked up. “We snuck alcohol into camp literally all the time? Especially those of us who were on the 2008 team together. The early 2011 camps were so fucking boring. All we had to do for fun was drink and ma…” Lardo abruptly realized she was about to say some stuff and shut her mouth abruptly. 

 

Luckily the guys didn't seem to notice because they were screaming about how insane Lardo was. Davey passed her a shot glass and screamed “SHOTS!” in her face as he clinked his against hers and knocked it back. Lardo followed suit.  _ Tequila. Gross. _

 

In the commotion, Lardo noticed Jack had disappeared. After taking another shot with Davey, she handed the shot glass back to him and cautiously picked her way through the crowd.

 

Walking upstairs, she slipped under the caution tape and knocked quietly on Jack's door. “Hey. It's Lardo. Can I come in?”

 

Jack pulled the door open almost immediately. “Of course. I'm surprised you're not downstairs though. Don’t you want to celebrate the amazing game you had?”

 

Lardo laughed. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” She came in and plopped down on Jack’s desk chair. “You’re the one with two goals and an assist.”

 

Jack blushed slightly. “It wasn’t that great. One of those goals was pure luck.”

 

Lardo frowned. “Dude, I don’t know that much about hockey, but I do know that watching you play is absolutely incredible. You’re really good. Don’t put yourself down.”

 

“I can always be better though.” Jack shrugged and walked past her to sit down on his bed.

 

Lardo swiveled around to face him. “When is better good enough for you?”

 

Jack looked up, confused. “What do you mean?”

 

“Is there anywhere you’re going to stop? Are you just going to keep pushing and pushing yourself?”

 

Jack frowned. “Lardo, I…”

 

“Let me finish.” Lardo leaned forward in the chair. “Jack, you’re freaking incredible. Is it okay to push yourself to be better? Yeah. But sometimes you have to stop and acknowledge you did something well and let yourself enjoy that. Otherwise you’re never going to stop pushing yourself and then you’ll end up hurting yourself.” She looked down. “Don’t make my mistakes.”

 

“Oh, Lardo,” she heard Jack say sadly before she felt his hands encircle her wrists and pull her forward into a hug. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Lardo curled up in Jack’s lap with her arms around his neck and her face buried into his shoulder.

 

After a few minutes, Lardo lifted her head up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” she trailed off as she realized just how close she and Jack were. Her head was swirling slightly from the alcohol and there was a weird tension in the air. “Jack…” she whispered.

 

Jack was looking back at her, pupils wide. “Lards…” he whispered back as he leaned forward. Their foreheads pressed together and their noses brushed. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

 

Lardo shook her head minutely. “I don’t know.” Almost unconsciously, she let her eyes drift shut as Jack tilted his head up to brush his lips over her own softly. 

 

The kiss was soft and warm, just the barest hint of pressure before Jack pulled back slightly, breathing shallowly. Lardo opened her eyes as she and Jack looked at each other. A few seconds passed before Lardo dropped her head back down, kissing Jack more firmly. Her hand moved to cup Jack’s face as she kissed him, then tangled into his hair as Jack pulled her in more firmly, hands stroking up and down her back. Lardo sighed into the kiss and Jack took that opportunity to deepen the kiss, tugging her bottom lip with his teeth. In return, Lardo traced her tongue along his mouth, shifting her weight so that she was straddling Jack and more able to kiss him head on.

 

Lardo let her hands slip under Jack’s shirt and started tugging it up. Jack broke off their kiss and lifted his arms, allowing her to pull his shirt over his head. She stared down at Jack as she tossed it aside. “Oh my god.”

 

Jack blushed. “You’ve seen it before.”

 

“Yeah, but I wasn’t  _ looking _ , you know?” Lardo let her hands run over his abs. “Holy shit, you’re hot.” She surged forward to kiss Jack again. The momentum sent them falling backwards so that Jack was laying on his bed and she was lying on top of him. Suddenly the entire room started to spin and she rolled off Jack. “ _ Whoa _ ” 

 

Jack looked over at her. “Are you okay?”

 

Lardo shook her head. “I...think all the alcohol just hit me. Holy shit.”

 

Jack looked horrified. “Oh my god. You’re drunk. You’re drunk and I just… Oh my god.” He sat up and put his head in his hands. 

 

Lardo tried to sit up, but the alcohol was making her really spin, so she instead rolled over and hugged Jack from behind. “No, Jack, shhhh, you didn’t do anything. You stopped before we did anything.

 

Jack’s breaths were coming faster now. “I could have….and it would have been just like juniors….and….and….” he was shaking and started mumbling in jibberish. It took Lardo a second to realize it was French.

 

Lardo used his shoulders to pull herself up and wrapped her arms around Jack. “Hey, hey, you’re safe, I’m here, I’ve got you.” They stayed wrapped up like that for a few minutes 

 

Jack took a few shuddering breaths and finally brought his head back up. “Sorry.”

 

“No need to apologize.” Lardo poked him in the shoulder “Though apparently, I do have a knack for kissing people after I’ve been drinking and giving them panic attacks. Though I suppose the last one the panic attack wasn’t related to the drinking.”

 

“You  _ what? _ ” Jack looked extremely confused.

 

_ Shit, probably shouldn’t have said that. _ “Erm, never mind. Drunk babbling. You doing all right?”

 

“I will be if you tell me that story.” Jack raised an eyebrow at her.

 

“Uh, nope. Not gonna.”

 

“Oh really?” Jack started lightly poking her ribs, right where her ticklish spot was. 

 

“Jack, no, Jack,  _ dammit Jack stop _ ,” Lardo choked out while trying to twist away. Jack held her tight though and continued to poke.

 

After a few moments of struggling, Lardo gave in. “Oh my god, Jack, it’s not that crazy of a story, I was just someone’s gay panic, please stop!”

 

Jack immediately stopped. “What do you mean?” He was staring at her intensely.

 

Lardo gulped. “This story cannot get out of this room.. So you absolutely 100% cannot say a word to anyone.”

 

Jack looked at her seriously. “I promise.”

 

\-------------------------------------------

Elena leaned over her suitcase, pulling out the vodka and the Sprite. “Happy 21st birthday to me, huh?”

 

Larissa laughed. “And happy 18th birthday to me. Pour up.” She took the cup from Elena, and then waited for her to fill up her own. “Cheers to being the old damn geezers at camp. Even if it means we’re celebrating our birthdays here.”

 

Elena raised her glass. “Amen to that.” They both drank deeply, already slightly buzzed from the beers they had drank before that.

 

Before long, Larissa decided to get up and go cuddle Elena. 3 beers and a shot of vodka prior to the vodka and sprites all in the span of a few minutes hit pretty hard. So she wobbled across the room the couple of steps it would take to get to the other bed and flopped down on it, dropping her head onto Elena’s shoulder.

 

Elena laughed and patted her head. “You doing all right, kiddo?”

 

“I’m not a kiddo,” muttered Larissa. “I’m 18. I’m a grown ass woman now.”

 

“Hate to break it to you, but you are nowhere near a grown ass woman. Hell, I’m 21 and I’m nowhere near a grown ass woman. I’d be a disaster if I wasn’t living at home.” Elena shook her head.

 

Larissa sighed. “You’re right. Man. Gymnastics. Making us Olympic gold medalists with zero prospects of dating until we’re done.”

 

Elena laughed. “That’s what you’re worried about? Dating?”

 

“Well excuse me for wanting to be kissed sometime before the age of 25.”

 

“There’s plenty of men out there at the age of 25 though.”

 

Before Larissa could catch it, she let it slip. “I didn’t say anything about boys.”

 

Elena jerked back. “What did you say?”

 

Larissa sat up. “Nothing.”

 

“No, you definitely said something.” 

 

“I said nothing. I’m sorry. Just ignore that.”

 

“I’m not ignoring...Ris,  _ did you just come out to me? _ ”

 

“Uhm…..” Larissa looked down.  _ Fuck it. _ “Maybe?”

 

Elena looked flabbergasted. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no words came out.

 

_ Shit. _ “Elena, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Do you want me to ask for a room switch? I can do that. Or just…” Larissa made to climb off the bed.

 

“Hey, hey, no, wait.” Elena grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back down onto the bed “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you with that reaction. So. You’re….a lesbian?”

 

Larissa frowned. “No, cause I still like boys. I just also like girls? So. Bisexual, I guess.”

 

Elena nodded. “Oh. Ok. Um, thank you for telling me?”

 

“You’re...the first person I’ve told. Ever.” admitted Larissa.

 

“What? Why?”

 

“Are you kidding? I can’t be the first out gymnast of any kind. I’m one of the faces of USA Gymnastics. They’d rake me over the coals.”

 

“Good point.” Elena made a face. “Well, if you ever do decide to come out, I’ll fight anyone who causes trouble for you.”

 

“Thanks Elena,” Larissa said drily. “I’m sure you can fight the entirety of the USAG governing board.”

 

“I’m serious, you idiot. Nobody messes with my Ris!” Elena shoved her in the shoulder. “Now, that’s enough emotions. Let’s drink some more.”

 

“Amen to that.” Larissa drained the rest of her vodka and sprite and refilled her cup.

 

A couple drinks later, they were giggling like idiots. “I can't believe you made out with Sam in Beijing. He literally looks like a penis.” Larissa was laying on Elena’s lap.

 

“Hey, he was single and available. What's a girl supposed to do?” Elena tilted the last of her drink into her mouth.

 

“Pick literally anyone else? Hell, hook up with a gymnast from Brazil or something.”

 

“Ew, none of the Brazilian guys were hot.”

 

“The girls were though.” Larissa said dreamily. “Elisana Martins could crush my face between her thighs and I'd thank her for it.”

 

“Ahhh, so you're into thighs.” Elena said, amusedly.

 

“Mmmm,” Larissa agreed, nuzzling into Elena's leg unconsciously.  _ Wait shit _ her half drunk brain realized what she was doing and shot up so fast that she almost hit her head on the top bunk. “Oh my god, Elena, that was so inappropriate, I'm so sorry. “

 

Elena didn’t say anything for a few moments so Larissa turned around to see if she was okay. “Elena?”

 

Elena looked at her, eyes wide, breathing heavily. 

 

“Are you okay?” Larissa asked, concerned.

 

“I...uhm….tou….well…” Elena stammered for a minutes before taking a deep breath. “Oh hell.” She grabbed Larissa’s face and kissed her.

 

Larissa forgot to breathe for a second. Elena was kissing her. Elena, her best friend on the team since they did 2008 together, was  _ kissing her _ . The thought made her jaw drop a little, and Elena used that opportunity to deepen the kiss, moving her lips against Larissa’s almost desperately. 

 

Larissa broke out of her shock long enough to pull back in abrupt shock. “Elena,  _ what are you doing? _ ”

 

Elena stared back at her. “Shit. I didn’t....” She began to breathe heavily. “ _ Fuck. _ ” She shuddered.

 

Larissa tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder but Elena jerked away. “No! Don’t touch me! I just….maybe for you, it’s ok, but I can’t do this.”

 

Larissa looked at her, confused. “Elena, you kissed me, what do you mean, you can’t do this?”

 

“I can’t like girls! I can’t be gay. My parents would kill me. I’m also another face of USA gymnastics. I’d lose my sponsorships. I’d….”   
  
“Elena.  _ Breathe. _ ” Larissa put her hands on Elena’s shoulder, trying to calm her down. “I get it. You’e drunk and confused. Okay?” She didn’t actually believe that, but right now, she’d rather have Elena think that than keep panicking.

 

Elena nodded. “Okay. Okay. So….it just happened. Because alcohol.”

 

“Exactly. You didn’t really want it. Alcohol said you did. Right?” Larissa looked into Elena’s eyes, trying to force her into some semblance of calm.

 

“Right. Right. Okay.” Elena shook her head. “I think it’s time to stop drinking though, yeah?”

 

Larissa agreed. “Yeah, I should hit my own bed. Get some water though. Make sure you’re not hungover for camp tomorrow. Natalya would kill you.”

\----------------------------

 

Jack raised an eyebrow. “So you’re bi.”

 

“Yep.” Lardo looked at him to see if there was any reaction. Sure, this was Samwell, and the team was pretty awesome, but they were still hockey bros.

 

Jack nodded. “Euh….me too?”

 

Lardo’s jaw dropped. “What?” she squeaked out.

 

Jack curled up a bit on himself. “Please don’t say anything? Not even Shitty knows.”

 

“Jack, I would never. Pinky swear.” Lardo held out her pinky for him to grab.

 

Jack took it. “And I’d rather….not talk about my stuff? If you don’t mind. I know that’s hypocritical after the tickle attack but there’s a lot of weird stuff around it…”

 

Lardo shook her head. “No, you’re good. However and whatever you want to talk about, ok?”

 

Jack smiled. “Okay.” He took a deep breath, looking like he was about to say something kind of uncomfortable. “Lardo?”

 

Lardo laughed. “If you’re about to tell me that that was weird and we shouldn’t do it again, I agree completely. Especially now that I’m sobering up.” She held out her fist for him to bump. “Bros?”

 

“Bros,” Jack agreed, returning the fistbump.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! I'm unsure of how often I'll be able to update with job and stuff but I'll try not to leave it too long.


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